Middle of Adventure, Such a Perfect Place to Start
by osnapitzs
Summary: / Au / "She's got to go." Eight of Westchester's elite versus one new girl. Does she even stand a chance?
1. Chapter 1

_I don't own the Clique or any references to real life stuff._

* * *

The last week of August brought with it to Westchester, New York scorching heat and a blinding sun. Sprinklers could constantly be seen on during the day, desperately trying to keep their precious gardens lush. Pools of all different shapes, sizes and shades of blue glittered like diamonds as the sun beat down on top of them. All across Westchester teenagers could be seen trying to get the most out of their remaining time before school started again. Westchester mothers were busy competing to see who could snap up the most fall couture the fastest and Westchester fathers were drinking brandies at the country club and talking about future business proposals. It was all very picturesque and twistedly domestic.

At the Rivera Estate, far away from the prying eyes of public roads, two girls lie on their backs on plush red loungers. Their tanned skin glowed in the sunlight and they were listening to the thumping bass of their favourite songs on a stereo. The pool in front of them sparkled invitingly, thoroughly ignored by the girls who were outside for the sole purpose of tanning. Tanning, and of course picture taking to document how clearly superior they were to anyone else. Their tanning was interrupted every so often by one of the two iPhone 5s's placed on the table between them beeping or vibrating with an incoming alert.

As her phone went off with the latest text, Massie Block blinked open her sleepy gold eyes and reached over to grab her phone with a sigh. She made a face as she read the message. The raven-haired girl next to her opened her own almond eyes and propped herself up on one elbow when her friend didn't say anything about the text.

"What's up, Mass?"

Massie turned to look at her and read the message out loud in one of the most annoyed tones she'd used all summer.

**Dylan [1:46 pm]: **are you and Alicia hanging out today?

Alicia snorted in a rather unladylike fashion. "Is that any business of hers? I wasn't aware that we had to tell Dylan Marvil whenever the two of us were doing something.

Massie grinned slightly until her phone chimed again. She read this message out loud as well.

**Dylan [1:46 pm]: **are you two with the guys?

Massie made a disgusted face. "Our guys are not her guys… does she actually think that she's friends with them? God, you let someone tag along one time and suddenly you're best friends."

"I love Dylan, what are you talking about," Alicia simpered.

"Then you talk to her," Massie retorted, just as Alicia's phone went off.

** Dylan M [1:47 pm]: **heyy leesh! Are you with Massie? Or the boys?

"You've got to be fucking kidding me with this," Alicia groaned.

Massie laughed at her friend. They were so wrapped up in their own world that they didn't notice when the back door of the house swung open. Alicia practically leaped out of her lounger when it slammed shut again. She followed it up with an eye roll as she noticed who it was. Massie promptly busied herself in her phone, so that she wouldn't have to look at the boy now standing in front of her.

"My women!" Derrick Harrington greeted brightly, with a huge grin plastered across his face.

"We're not your women," Alicia replied immediately, opening her magazine.

They were kind of his women. Although his stepsister Alicia, and Massie both pretended to hate him most of the time, their whole group was a family. Alicia, Massie, Derrick and Cam were even closer. Alicia and Derrick were now literally a family. Massie was their "adoptive sister" (as Alicia put it; Derrick liked to pretend that she never added the "sibling that I wanted" part).

Massie barely glanced up as he spoke, continuing to browse through Instagram on her phone. "Look who's back from Nice. Did it make you nice?" She mocked without meeting his eye.

Derrick seated himself on the edge of her lounger. Masse squawked in annoyance and he pretended he was going to sit on her legs and drew them up to her chest. Once he was seated, she dumped them in his lap. He winked at her and she threw him an annoyed look. Alicia watched the whole thing with mild interest before picking up her phone. Snapping the most discreet picture –a special talent of hers –she sent it after writing a caption.

**Alicia [1:53]: **_Attachment _look how cute they are Cammie, don't you wish you were here?

The reply was almost instantaneous.

**Cam [1:53]: **I would be there, I don't remember an invitation?

Alicia chuckled. Massie and Derrick were arguing about something. Alicia tuned in… and oh, it was who had hooked up with the most people over the summer. Massie had gone to Spain with Alicia earlier in the summer; they'd gotten back a week ago. Derrick was insisting that he had won. Massie turned her fierce gaze on Alicia.

"Al, tell him that I hooked up with more guys than he did girls," Massie insisted. "And probably more girls," she added thoughtfully.

Alicia grinned wickedly. "She's not wrong D, you'd be hard pressed to beat her because Massie was a slut this summer."

"Thank you!" Massie exclaimed.

She never took offense to being called a slut. As she viewed it, this was high school and her friends were the ones she wanted to see it through with. She didn't want to waste her precious time with them by dividing it between them and some boy.

Massie's phone began to ring, startling them out of the comfortable moment of silence. She glanced down at the caller id and rolled her eyes. Picking up the phone, she tilted the screen towards Alicia so that she could see who was calling. It was Dylan. Massie rolled her eyes again and jammed her thumb into the green phone on the screen. She motioned vigorously for Derrick and Alicia to s_tay quiet_ and then put her phone on speaker.

"Hullo?" She asked dully.

"Hey Mass!" Dylan greeted cheerfully.

"Who is this?"

"Um Dylan? Don't you have caller id?"

"I'm kind of busy, I didn't look. What Dylan is this?" Massie may have been being needlessly rude, but she didn't care. Dylan was a bitch and a suck up and Massie hated her.

"Marvil… it's Dylan Marvil."

"Oh. Hi." Massie said flatly. "Look can I help you with something, like I said, I'm kind of busy."

"Doing what?" Dylan was obviously working hard to get herself invited to hang out with Massie and/or Alicia.

"I'm at Gallawaugh all day. Sorry, the horses are acting up. They don't like phones. Gotta go," she hung up with saying goodbye, or waiting for Dylan to.

Alicia immediately burst out into laughter. Even Derrick was laughing.

"Did she get more desperate while I was gone?" He asked, rubbing his cheeks which hurt from smiling.

"Are you even asking that right now?" Alicia gasped.

After another minute of laughing at Dylan's expense, Massie cleared her throat. Stretching, she lifted her arms above her head, inadvertently thrusting her ample cleavage out towards Derrick who was _definitely_ watching. Okay, maybe it wasn't inadvertently, Massie liked to flirt.

"I am starving," she announced. "I think we should have a late lunch."

"I'm down," Alicia agreed.

"D?" Massie questioned expectantly.

"Actually, I was going to meet up with Olivia Ryan after our reunion…" he trailed off at the glare on both their faces.

"Derrick, you're my stepbrother and I say this not with love, but maybe with like: if you ditch Massie and me for Airhead we will never forgive you and take great personally vindictive glee in making you suffer for the duration of the time we know you."

"I was kidding!" He held up his hands defensively. "You know I love you guys, I would never ditch you. Go get dressed."

Massie got to her feet and swooped down to kiss him lightly. "We love you too D, but you're an asshole."

Alicia mumbled her agreement, kissing his cheek and ruffling his hair on her way after Massie into her house. Their bare feet bounded up the hardwood staircase to Alicia's suite, and a door opened and closed. After that it was all silence until they reappeared 15 minutes later. Alicia wore a white strappy crop top and a black skirt with big dark pink flowers and a pair of open-toe heels. Massie wore a loose, floral lace crop top and extremely light washed jean shorts that left little to the imagination. She wore gladiators on her feet, as she would be driving and Massie absolutely refused to wear heels while driving. Alicia completed her look with a simple black headband that she wore in a hippie kind of style, whereas Massie had chosen a black hat over her hip-length waves to finish the look.

Derrick's jaw dropped as the two of them came down the stairs. Massie winked at him.

"I'm driving," she announced and flounced out the door before he could protest.

* * *

Once they were all comfortable seated inside Massie's red Audi rs7 convertible –Derrick had shouted his dibs at the passenger seat as soon as the car came into view per the rules of dibs –and Alicia was sprawled across the backseat. Massie looked at her friend in the rear-view mirror.

"Al, is Cam gonna come?"

Alicia looked up from her phone to relay the message. "He said he'd come if we went to Slice of Heaven and not 'that girl shit' that we usually drag him and D to."

Massie rolled her eyes. "Fine, then text everyone else and tell them to meet us there in twenty. We'll get our table that way."

"Their" table was the biggest table at the pizza place, taking up the back of the room. It was where the eight of them always sat. Alicia saluted with one finger to let Massie know that she would text them.

**Alicia [2:13]: **late lunch date at SOH. Be there in 20.  
**Skye [2:13]: **practically in my car  
**Kemp [2:13]: **wait, if it's a date do I have to dress up?  
**Alicia [2:14]: **kemp you are literally an idiot.  
**Chris [2:14]: **well I never pass up an invitation for a round of 'let's insult kemp' so I'm in  
**Josh [2:15]: **see you there. Leesh are you with Massie, Derrick and Cam?  
**Alicia [2:16]: **with m and d, on our way to pick up c.

"Everyone's coming," she announced.

Massie grinned brightly without taking her eyes off the road. "Excellent, this is the first time we'll all be together since school ended basically.

Derrick twisted around. "Speaking of everyone being together, A, Len and my mother are extending their vacation. They won't get back until the second week of school."

"Party time!" Massie and Alicia chorused.

* * *

Griffin Hastings nodded at them as they walked in and jerked his head towards the back, indicating that their friends were already there. Massie half-smiled at him in thanks and headed to the back, weaving her way through the tables without bothering to look at anyone seated at them. Skye looked up as they neared and tilted her head grinning at them in a knowing way. Massie raised an eyebrow as she slid into the seat next to Kemp who was directly across from the blonde. Alicia sat on Massie's right. The boys filled in the two spaces across from them. Kemp, Chris and Josh looked up from whatever sport they were arguing about this time and slapped hands with the guys, reaching across the girls to do so. Massie leaned back in her seat, vaguely annoyed. Kemp grinned at her as he leaned back into his seat.

"Aw Massie, babe, don't look so upset to see us."

She stuck out her tongue at him childishly. He flicked her ear and she threw a death glare at him. Turning her attention to the entire table she leaned forward, letting her elbows support her.

"So, fill me in on your summers, Skye and boys."

The next 45 minutes were full of stories and raucous laughter that drew the attention of the other diners.

* * *

"Alright, Alicia and Derrick have some news, obviously," Skye interrupted the separate conversations going on as she looked up from her phone and caught the two sitting quietly with matching looks of anticipation.

Massie wiggled in her seat. Alicia grinned at her before speaking to them all.

"So, Derrick told me today that our parents are gone on their honeymoon and won't be back until the second week of school," she began.

"Party?" Chris asked like an excited puppy.

"Party," Derrick confirmed.

"We were actually thinking we have one that's like just us basically and maybe a few other people, and then one huge one. One could be for the end of the summer and the other for the beginning of the school year," Alicia suggested.

Massie leaned forward with a devious look on her face. "I say we combine them and go all fucking out for this. We can make it the biggest party that Westchester has ever seen."

Skye smirked. "I like the way you think Massie."

* * *

"Okay so are we going to like, tweet about the party, make a Facebook page? What are we gonna do?" Alicia asked, looking over at her two friends as she fishtailed her hair.

Skye pushed her heavy blonde waves over her shoulders and pulled Massie's Mac Pro over so that she could look at it. "Plus, are we gonna have a theme or what?"

They both looked over at Massie. She was the party planning queen. She was doing her makeup in the mirror.

Without looking away from where she was carefully applying mascara, she spoke, "we're not going to have a theme, it's just a house party. I saw we make a Facebook page in advance so we can make sure certain people get the invitation. Then the night of the party, like eight or so, we tweet it. That's guaranteed to make it huge," she paused for a second and turned to look at her friends. "Don't make it BYOB we don't want to look cheap."

Alicia nodded once. "We're gonna have to get new fakes then," she added.

Skye shrugged, "that's not really a problem, I met this guy named Leaf," she snorted at the name, "and he does t_he best _fakes."

Massie popped her lips once, evidently finished with her makeup. "Perfect."

All three of their phones started vibrating from their various places around the room. Massie grabbed hers and checked the screen.

**Derrick [6:06 pm]: **harris just found out his parents are going out of town. Come over  
**Skye [1:06]:** what have you got  
**Cam [1:07]: **whatever you want  
**Josh [1:07]: **unless you take too long. We'll start without you  
**Massie [1:08]: **no you won't. be there in ten.

"Come on ladies, outfit checks," Massie ordered.

Skye and Alicia jumped to their feet, scanning themselves in the mirror. Massie stood in between them, lips pursed as she checked over her own clothes. After they deemed themselves acceptable for public they grabbed their bags. As Massie passed by the mini fridge in her room, she grabbed a mickey of Bacardi.

"Skye, you drove here right? Let's take your car," Alicia suggested.

"Are you trying to make me the DD?" Skye demanded.

"Well we all know Massie's going to drink whether she's supposed to or not, and I got dropped off by Derrick."

Massie wrapped an arm around Skye's shoulders. "Trust me, if you can't drive us home then we'll just spend the night there. I have no doubts that the boys won't mind."

Skye sighed, mollified. "I get have of that," she motioned to the bottle in Massie's bag.

"Deal."

They slid into Skye's Bentley. Massie claimed the front seat for herself. Skye looked at them sharply.

"If there is a scratch on my baby tomorrow there will be hell to pay," she warned.

"When have we ever damaged your car before?" Alicia demanded.

"We respect cars," Massie chimed in.

Skye rolled her eyes and pulled out of the Block's circular courtyard of a driveway. Massie also lived on a private road, so it was a two minute drive to get to the main roads. It was mostly silence for a few minutes while Masse fiddled with the radio and hooked her phone up to the Bluetooth. Once it was connected, she scrolled through the songs on her phone, looking for the perfect one to blast. She settled on _Fancy_ and turned the volume way up on the radio.

"FIRST THINGS FIRST I'M THE REALEST," all three girls shouted together as the song started.

* * *

There were several cars parked along the Fisher's driveway. Skye pulled into the lane left in between them and parked in their huge garage, along with Josh, Cam, Kemp and Harris's cars.

"They clearly carpooled," Massie observed.

"Then what's with all the cars outside?" Alicia wondered.

"They're probably Harris's friends," Skye replied, locking her car and putting the roof up.

Massie was the first to arrive at the garage door and pushed it open without knocking. There were about twelve people in the living room. Cam, Derrick, Josh, Kemp, and Chris were all there, along with Harris and six of his friends. There was music thumping too loudly to tell what was playing. Massie sauntered over and dropped her bag in the corner.

"The party can start, we've arrived," she announced with a cheeky grin.

Cheers erupted from the drunken teenagers. The girls immediately split up, finding boys to flirt with. Massie found a particularly attractive friend of Harris's. She let herself drop onto the couch beside him, leaning in so that he could hear her.

"What's your name?"

"Landon Crane," he eyed her in a very apparent onceover.

"Well Landon Crane, I think you should make me a drink," she spoke directly into his ear and raised an eyebrow at him as she pulled away.

"Sure," he agreed amicably, standing up to saunter over to the table in the corner.

Cam sat down beside her after Landon walked away. Massie raised an eyebrow at him.

"That your conquest for the night?"

"One of them," she replied, her eyes following him.

"Good luck, apparently he has a girlfriend," Cam told her.

"Good thing she's not here then," Massie replied.

"Derrick just warned him you were going to try something."

Massie's eyes widened and her head swung around to find the blonde boy. He was smirking at her and raised his beer as if toasting her. She flipped him off. Cam snorted beside her. Landon was about to finish up at the other side of the room. She turned to face Cam.

"Well, I'm always up for a challenge. You can tell Derrick that he being an asshole isn't going to deter me."

Cam raised his hands in surrender. "Will do, have fun Mass."

She was alone again by the time Landon reached her. He looked uninterested in her as he held out the drink. Massie rolled her eyes, unnoticed by him, as she accepted it.

"Thanks," she said distantly, letting her eyes focus on some other guy.

Landon stiffened beside her as he picked up on who she was looking at. Massie had read him correctly. In a few more minutes he wouldn't care that he had a girlfriend, he wanted her attention on him. After another second, she turned her head slightly so he would know that she was talking to him.

"Who is that guy?"

"His name is Jasper. He's on the soccer team at Columbia," Landon looked put out and Massie inwardly smirked.

"He's cute," she murmured, "maybe I'll go introduce myself." As she took a long sip of her drink –it was mixed well, he clearly knew what he was doing –she registered his annoyed expression. "What?"

"Did you really come over here to talk to me about him?"

"Athletes are sexy," she replied.

"I play lacrosse."

"I hear that can be rough. I also heard that only players with girlfriends can do anything like that during the season," it was complete bullshit, but it was working on him.

"I'd probably make an exception."

This was too easy. Massie was verging on bored. It had taken one look and a one question about another boy, and this one was throwing away his standards so that she would sleep with him. He probably thought she was a virgin too.

"Oh would you? Maybe I'm not interested."

"I'll make you interested."

She raised an eyebrow at that. Making eye contact with him for the first time since he'd gotten back with her drink she smiled faux-sweetly.

"Please, feel free."

It was almost something Massie took joy in, making out with Landon where Derrick could clearly see him. She met his eyes over Landon's shoulder as the university boy moved down her neck with open mouthed, sucking kissed. Derrick looked surprised for a moment and then grinned at her. W_ell done_, he mouthed. She pointedly moved her eyes over to Josh, who was directly across from her. Derrick got the hint and motioned for Josh to take a picture. The Spanish boy looked confused but did as he was told, clearly getting the picture of Landon and Massie's neck, avoiding her face. She winked at him and pulled Landon off of her.

"Have fun explaining that to your girlfriend," she chirped, standing up.

It was a change of plans, but running someone else's relationship was always more enjoyable than a meaningless hookup. Massie was a bitch. Landon made a face.

"I'm not telling Janice about this," he told her in an _are you stupid _kind of way.

"Okay, then I will," she replied easily.

Josh sent her the picture at that exact moment. Massie held up her phone and showed him.

"It's Janice Laclaire right? That makes it easy, she follows me on Twitter."

As she spoke, she'd opened the app and attached the picture.

**massie  
**someone's not being very faithful to ** janicelaclaire** are they ** landoncrane**? **#cheatersareworthless**

"You're the one who convinced me to do it!" Landon spat at her.

Massie rolled her eyes. "No one convinced you to do anything. Maybe you shouldn't be such an attention whore. This wouldn't have happened if you didn't get so jealous about James."

She sauntered away, leaving him there, bright red and angry. Derrick waved her over. Massie downed the rest of her drink and set the cup down, heading over. He was sitting with Skye and Kemp. The blonde had fished out Massie's Bacardi and was twisting the top off. She took a mouthful and winced as she swallowed it, passing it to Massie. As Massie raised it to her mouth, trying to get the taste of the boy out of her mouth, Derrick yanked the petite brunette down onto his lap. Landon evidently saw this and stormed over to try and wreck Massie's apparent "relationship".

"You know we were just making out right," he spat at Derrick.

"Okay?" Derrick looked wildly confused, looking at his friends to see if they knew what he was doing.

"You don't care?"

"I don't own her, dude, do whatever you want. Cheating though? That's bullshit."

Massie smirked at him, eyes narrowed. "Goodbye Landon, it was lovely to meet you," she told him sweetly.

Skye started laughing when he was out of earshot. Her Tiffany blue eyes were a little glassy and unfocused. "What was that about?"

"I may or may not have ruined his relationship with Janice Laclaire," Massie told her.

"Ou," Josh winced on behalf of the other boy, "she's hot."

Skye and Massie made identical unimpressed faces at Josh. Skye shook back her hair, ready to impart wisdom on him.

"A girl is only as hot as the company she keeps. And that guy? He just threw a bitch fit. Not hot," she informed them. "Which means that Janice, while physically attractive secretly has some sort of deformity somewhere."

Massie nodded in agreement, looking wise. Derrick and Josh scoffed at them. Massie wrinkled her nose and got to her feet.

"Fine, if you don't believe us, Skye and I will find some other guys to hang out with," she announced and the two girls flounced off in a huff.

"They get weird when they're drunk," Josh muttered.

* * *

In the end, Massie only hooked up with Landon (if one could even count that –she didn't think so) and one other guy. Ironically it was James. He left around two in the morning, and Massie, Skye and Alicia crashed at Cam's house. Harris had retreated back to Columbia as well. The boys were all downstairs, Massie had claimed Cam's bed for herself and Alicia, Skye was sleeping on top of both of them. The girls woke up around ten in the morning in varied states of undress. Massie and Skye were both only in their underwear and bras, thankfully none of them had worn thongs, and Alicia had a t-shirt on as well. All three of them were hungover and they walked downstairs as they woke up –after washing their faces, brushing their teeth and tying their hair up.

As they reached the hallway that led kitchen, Massie stopped and leaned against the door trying not to dry heave. Someone was cooking bacon. Alicia came to a halt a few steps later, doubled over as she tried not to vomit. Skye made it about a foot farther before she stopped, opting to sit down and duck her head in between her knees. The wood door opened, and Chris stuck his head out into the hallway.

"What's up ladies? Can't handle the… aroma?" He teased.

Skye flipped him off from where she still had her nose covered. There was a rustling sound as the door began to shut and then was pushed open again. Five boys filled the hallway. Kemp snorted.

"Rough night, ladies?"

"Kemp I swear to God if you don't shut the fuck up I will take a knife and we'll see how rough your night is when I'm done," Alicia threatened.

Kemp's eyes widened. Alicia was usually the least likely to threaten one of the others. The boys all exchanged looks with each other before Cam spoke in a soothing voice.

"Do you want us to get you Starbucks and bagels?"

All three of their heads slowly lifted, hope on their faces. Chris snorted.

"White girls," he remarked as the guys slid past them on their way out to the front door.

"We'll be back in like half an hour!" Derrick called just before the front door slammed shut.

Massie whimpered at the bang.

* * *

Massie got dropped off at her house by Skye at one pm. Her house was unlocked, which meant that Kendra was home for once. When she stepped in to the big entryway, heels clicking on the black and white tiled floor, her mother swooped down the staircase that rose from the middle of the room and split off to the left and the right. Massie almost jumped in surprise. Even when Kendra was home, she rarely emerged to talk to her daughter. Of course, Kendra was glaring at her.

"Massie Madeleine Block! Where have you been! I arrived home a ten o'clock to get ready for the gala tonight at the country club and you were _gone_! Do you know how worried I've been? You could have written a note! How was I to know you were coming home? Do you know how embarrassing it would be had your father and I been the only family without a child?"

Of course her mother wasn't worried in the slightest about where Massie had been or what she had been doing. All Kendra cared about was that Massie didn't embarrass her by standing up her parents. There was a huge gala that night at the country club, Massie knew. Of course, neither of her parents had bothered to mention that the Blocks were going. They'd been in Greece for the last two months. Kendra clucked her tongue as Massie hadn't bothered to answer, continuing on her way up the stairs to her bedroom.

"At least you got a tan," were her mother's last words.

Massie wouldn't see her again until it was time for them to leave.

**Massie [1:04 pm]:** did you get bitched out at about the gala tonight?  
**Skye [1:06]: **of course. Never mind that they didn't bother to tell me about it in the first place  
**Massie [1:08]: **neither did mine. They've been in Greece for two months. According to Inez they're leaving again tomorrow too.  
**Skye [1:12]: **mine leave for Dubai tonight. They're gone for a month.

Massie rolled her eyes. Westchester parents –when they could be bothered to be around –were some of the weirdest people she would ever meet. They couldn't care less about what their kids did as long as they showed up and played the role of adoring, perfect children. The men were all business men that flew their wives (of the moment) around to various exotic places and then gave them the credit cards so the women would leave and the men could do their business in the hotel.

**Massie [1:18]: **are you up for a round of "who have we seen fucked out of their minds" tonight?  
**Skye [1:18]: **honey, I'm always up for that!

* * *

I hope that didn't suck. Let me know if it did or didn't, I love feedback! (Negative feedback makes me sad but I can handle it, promise.)

I didn't really proofread because I am the laziest person every so I'm really sorry for any ridiculous mistakes.


	2. Chapter 2

_dosesofjai- _I like Dylan too! Unfortunately, she didn't fit into any of the other roles I envisioned because I really wanted to use Skye.

_Guest- _I'm glad you like it! And actually I picked Skye as the third one of the girls solely because I like her as a character and I haven't ready many fanfics where she isn't the person trying to ruin their lives.

_(other?) Guest- _I can guarantee that I'll be finishing this story, I've already briefly imagined the plot for this one and maybe on for a sequel!

_Catt- _I will tell you that Kristen isn't quite an LBR, that will be introduced in this chapter… And I'm really happy that you think it didn't suck, so thank you!

_outside the box of crayons- _I'm just going to say thank you again as I've already technically answered this but **thank you**!

_s- _**YES THE TITLE IS AN ARCTIC MONKEYS REFERENCE I AM SO GLAD SOMEONE NOTICED! **And thank you!

_air of withering sweetness-_ You're in luck: Alicia and Derrick are going to have sibling moment in this chapter!

_psychotic honey badger of death- _First of all, that is a kickass name. I'm glad you like characters; the guys are based off of my friends actually, and the girls are totally made up out of meaner parts of my head. I am doing some pairings, namely one for each of the girls. They shouldn't be too hard to figure out soon, but I'm not going to actually tell you them. And thank you for the follow on my story!

_**NOTE:**__ The boys and girls, __**and their families**__, in Westchester are very big on tradition and everything staying the same. They're almost like mafia families in that aspect. Keep that in mind for this story because otherwise they will probably sound crazy to you. That's why while you may learn that there are some people that float around the edges of their group; it's always going to be just them. No one else is going to break into their little family –or threaten it._

* * *

Massie admired herself in the mirror as she checked over her outfit for that night at the country club. She had chosen to wear a salmon coloured bodycon dress with a black Aztec pattern, black six inch heels and a black leather jacket to keep her warm. Her hair was curled and the front of it was pinned back around her head like a crown. She looked perfect, except for the frown on her face. One could clearly see that she didn't want to be going to the country club.

"Massie, your parents are waiting for you in the limo," Inez announced sympathetically over the intercom system.

Massie sighed. "Okay Inez, thank you."

With one last glance in the mirror, she grabbed her little Chanel purse and exited her house. Her parents barely looked up when she slid into the limo. Kendra was immersed in her magazines and William was in the middle of an important business call that just _could not wait_. Massie rolled her eyes and pulled out her own phone. The country club was twenty minutes away from the Block residence, and it was sure to be a silent ride.

Her Twitter timelines was surprisingly filled. Alicia was spending her night pampering herself. She apparently was getting a massage, facial and her nails done. Derrick and Cam were having a huge FIFA tournament at Cam's house according to their tweets. Kemp and Chris were in New York City for the night at a concert. In a surprising tweet, Massie found out that Josh was also being dragged to the gala. She hated the word gala. It was so pretentious. Massie was pretentious, yes, but she wasn't _that_ bad. Composing a reply to Josh, commiserating with him for the awful night ahead, she fell back against the headrest of her seat with an internal sigh. As she predicted, aside from William negotiating and ordering people around on his phone for a solid fifteen minutes, it was quiet until they arrived at the country club.

William got out first, holding his hand out to assist Kendra out of the limo. She got out daintily, fixing her skirt for the reporters that hovered at the entrance. Massie got out after her mother, careful to stand up without flashing anyone in her mid-thigh length dress. Some would say it was more suitable for clubbing, but the brunette girl pulled it off with confidence. She winked at the last photographer in the crowd, the man closest to the doors after he snapped their photo. She was sure to get yelled at for "inappropriate conduct" later.

The Hamiltons were inside already when the Blocks arrived. Skye had clearly been looking up every time that a family arrived; her bored expression lifted when she saw Massie enter. Her perfect blonde hair was pin-straight. As usual, Skye had chosen the "be slightly underdressed" approach to the formal even, but like Massie, it worked well for her. She wore a tangerine, flowing, high-waist maxi skirt, tan suede wedges that were around the same height as Massie's own heels and an off-white lace, slightly loose crop top.

Kendra had engaged the Marvil's in a conversation, and Massie smiled blandly, while waving the blonde over behind her back without ever looking away from the conversation. Skye took the hint and excused herself from her parents before making her way over. She came to a halt beside Massie, the girls standing at an almost identical height, both looking surprisingly intimidating for teenage girls, but not at all surprisingly for _whom _those girls were. Kendra paused in her conversation when Skye joined their little group.

"Hello Skye, you look lovely," she smiled, and William shook Skye's tanned hand.

"Geoffrey and Natasha were just saying that they'd like to speak with Massie again. I hate to take her away from the conversation, but they're really looking forward to it," Skye chirped in her _parents love me_ voice.

"Oh, of course, go, have fun Massie," Kendra replied, already refocusing on her conversation with Merri-Lee.

Dylan looked slightly put out, (Massie made a mental note that the redhead did look admittedly fabulous) but she didn't dare protest. Massie and Skye sashayed off. With a quick glance back towards her family to make sure that they weren't looking at the pair, they headed out the back doors, prepared to blow off the entire event. They'd already been photographed going in, and the press inside weren't allowed to take pictures of anyone under the age of 18, so they wouldn't be missed.

**Massie [7:17 pm]: **back doors.

It only took a minute for Josh to poke his head out. "Mass? Skye?"

"Over here!" The girls waved him over.

"What the hell are you doing out here?"

"Blowing this joint," Skye threw up a West Side sign.

Massie giggled at her friend, Josh just rolled his eyes. "Where are we going?"

"I was thinking the Cheesecake Factory, I'm starving," Skye suggested, "and it's within a reasonable walking distance."

"I could be down for a big burger right about now," Massie agreed.

"I'm in."

* * *

"Alright, lean in you two," Massie held her phone out in front of her, making a ridiculous kissy face. Skye copied her, and Josh was giving the two of them a ridiculous look as Massie took the picture.

"I love it," the brunette announced. "It's going on Instagram!"

**massieblock **ditching the gala was the best thing to happen all week ** skyeham joshhotz #cheesecakefactory #bestfriends**

She added a few emojis to finish off the caption and uploaded it. For the rest of their meal, her phone was constantly lit up with people liking and commenting on the photo.

**Alicia [9:08 pm]: **thanks for the invite you whore.

Massie responded with a kissy face emoji and tossed her phone back into her purse. They were just finishing up dessert. She pulled out enough cash to cover the bill, ignoring Skye and Josh's protests.

"We should be getting home, the gala will be over soon, and Josh's mom will freak if he's not home by then. Town car?"

Skye shrugged. "Jack can pick us up, he doesn't have to get my parents."

Massie half shrugged in agreement. It was comfortable silence until Jack arrived from the Hamilton estate to take them home. He raised an eyebrow at their location, but didn't comment on their obvious escape from the country club.

"Where to first?"

"Josh, then Massie," Skye directed.

"Sure thing Miss Hamilton."

"Joshie pass me those strawberries."

"Massie, you literally just ate an entire meal."

"Joshua Hotz I am a growing woman. _Give me the strawberries_," Massie demanded, snapping her fingers before holding them out and wiggling them demandingly.

Skye smirked. "Josh, I'd give her the strawberries if I were you."

Josh rolled his eyes. "I really don't know why I'm friends with you two," he said as he passed Massie the strawberries from the mini fridge in the car.

"Because we're wonderful people when we feel like it," Skye replied condescendingly.

He shrugged. "I guess…"

"Joshie loves ussss!" They crowed together.

He groaned and dropped his head into his hands.

* * *

"Practically everyone has RSVP'd yes," Alicia announced as Massie and Skye entered her room, arms full of junk food.

"Perfect. They'll also probably bring friends with them so that's even more people," Skye dropped her load on the bed.

"That's what, six hundred people roughly?" Massie asked, helping herself to the SmartFood popcorn.

"Something like that," Alicia agreed.

"Sounds like a good party to me," Massie chirped, "we can start setting up at like six tomorrow so we have ample time to get ready before the losers that always show up early get here. And the boys can come over before they start drinking that way."

"I'll text them and tell them the plan."

* * *

Massie and Alicia were on iChat with Skye.

The blonde had had to go home after they hung out the day before because she had a family dinner. Skye possibly had the only normal family out their entire group of friends and possibly in all of Westchester. The family dinner was to celebrate her cousin's new pregnancy. Totally normal. When Massie had family dinners it was always done in New York City so that her parents (Kendra was a former model) would be photographed together and everyone would seem happy.

"Okay so how do I look?" Massie asked.

She was wearing pastel pink cut off denim shorts with silver spikes on the right leg and a simple, white, low hanging scoop neck that showed off her tanned collarbones and was loosely tucked into her shorts on one side. Skye couldn't see her feet, but given that she was shorter than Alicia still, she assumed that she was wearing flats or more likely gladiators.

"Very house party appropriate. Causal, but you look good," Skye reassured her.

"Perfect," Massie flashed her pearly whites, "your turn!"

Skye stood up and backed away from her Mac, twirling once to show her whole outfit. She'd chosen pale denim shorts with a cuff at the bottom and a black top that was relatively high cut but had a huge cut out that showed the majority of her back.

"Looks good to me," Massie gave her a thumbs up.

"I can't find shoes that will match," Skye pouted.

Alicia held up one finger and rummaged through her closet. She returned a few moments later with a pair of black and gold Giuseppe Zanotti sandals. Skye's mouth dropped into an "o".

"Those are gorgeous!"

Alicia half-smiled, "they were a bribe from my mother's last husband so that I wouldn't tell her about his affair. I still told her, but the shoes are nice." She looked at the clock before continuing, "it's like, almost eight, you should come now. I still haven't found anything to wear."

"On my way!" Skye chirped, "I'll be there soon."

It took her five minutes to get there after getting in her car. Massie opened the door when she knocked on it; she'd evidently been waiting for her.

"Come on, Alicia needs some serious help," she joked, leading the way back up the stairs.

Skye snorted as she followed. "Alicia always needs help."

Alicia was sitting in the middle of her bedroom when her friends arrived, surrounded by clothes. It looked as if a tornado had swept through her closet, throwing everything in it out into her room. Skye ignored all the clothes on the floor and headed into the closet. Massie rubbed Alicia's back sympathetically; the raven-haired girl looked close to tears in her frustration. It took Skye two minutes to put together an outfit that Alicia loved. It was a red lace halter top that zipped up in the back and was tight in the best places and black leather shorts that hung loose around her thighs so they didn't look ridiculous. It went well with her super straight hair.

"Skye, I could kiss you right now!" Alicia declared.

Skye smirked. "Wait until I'm drunk first sweet cheeks."

* * *

Derrick had herded the boys into the house about twenty minutes after Skye had arrived. Kemp had taken it upon himself to bang on Alicia's bedroom door until the girls were ready to open it, with scowls on their faces. His smile was over the top and ridiculous and the girls chased him down stairs throwing pebbles from the potted plant that was at the landing.

"I'm under attack!" He yelped, diving behind Derrick and Chris.

"Hey!" They both shouted as they got pelted with rocks.

"Blame him!" Alicia snapped. "He's the one who banged on the door for five minutes straight!"

"Cam told me to!" Kemp defended.

The girls whirled on him. Cam held up his hands in surrender.

Massie, with an infinitely patient tone, crossed her arms over her chest. "Cameron Fisher you have exactly two minutes to supply everyone here with drinks or we come after you, full force," she told him sweetly. "Starting now."

Cam took off in the direction of the kitchen.

It was most likely thanks to Cam bringing them a constant supply of drinks that when the first groups of people started showing up Alicia may have been ruder than called for to the losers. She waved people in with smiles, stopping when she landed on Kori and Strawberry, two girls from school.

"Sorry, you weren't invited."

"It's an open party!" Kori protested.

"It's not open to you, goodbye," Alicia turned them around and pushed them down her steps before allowing a clump of boys from Greyson inside.

When the time came, she allowed Dylan inside as well, albeit with a haughty glance.

* * *

"What's the scoop from the party," Alicia demanded, legs crossed under her as she enjoyed the pancakes that Chris had volunteered to cook.

"There's a new girl in town. Her name's Claire. She's Todd Lyons cousin," Massie rattled off, helping her own self to the ever shrinking stack of pancakes. "Blonde, blue eyes, she's from Florida."

Skye raised a perfectly shaped eyebrow as she walked into the living room. "How do you know all that?"

Massie's gold eyes twinkled with contempt. "I met her last night."

Alicia's lips tightened. "How long as she been in Westchester?"

"Three days," Massie replied with a scowl.

"And she's already inviting herself to the parties?" Skye asked rather rhetorically.

"Ladies, it would seem as though we have another Layne Abeley on our hands."

"Hey now," Alicia chided, "we might have another _Chris_ Abeley too if Todd steps up to the plate." Her tone made it clear that this wasn't a good thing.

Massie folded her left leg over her right. "Get the boys before you sit Skye, we need to find out if they know anything."

The two of the boys had talked to Claire Lyons at the party. Josh and Kemp had both had conversations with the blonde, and they were both put out to learn who she was. Josh's thick eyebrows knit together when the girls filled the boys in on what they knew.

"She seemed full of herself, but I was pretty out of it. Now that you've told us that she's new, it makes a little more sense that she said she'd have to 'keep an eye out for me at school'."

Kemp's lip curled. "Personally, I thought she was a stuck up bitch. And not in a good way, like with you three, the bad way."

Alicia sighed. "Thanks Kemp, for that stunning compliment. Massie, what are we gonna do?"

Everyone turned to Massie and Derrick who were both sitting next to each other on the couch across from the majority of their friends. Massie considered the question for a moment, and shot a look at the blonde boy beside her, who half-nodded. Massie and Derrick were almost always on the same page.

"We watch her as a potential problem until we're sure she's going to become one. Then, we deal with her the same way we dealt with the Abeleys."

"Keep an eye out for her around town. We need to know who she's making friends with. If necessary become friends with her to keep an eye on her and make sure that she isn't going to become a problem."

It was clear when Derrick said 'friends' that they should not under any circumstances become friends with her.

There was a collective nod between their friends. Claire Lyons was going to be under constant surveillance.

* * *

As Alicia strolled through the Westchester, deftly avoiding Olivia Ryan and Dylan Marvil, she spotted an unfamiliar blonde head browsing by the window of Sephora. And would you look at that? Sephora just happened to be next on Alicia's list of stores to hit. She casually adjusted her course until she was entering the store. Absent-mindedly scanning the aisles, she let herself drift closer to the girl.

"Excuse me! Do you work here?"

The blonde girl turned, looking confused. "Are you talking to me?"

"Yes," Alicia replied, using her peripheral vision to scan the girl without moving her eyes from where they made contact with the girls blue ones. _Bingo, blonde hair, blue eyes, unfamiliar face._

She was dressed in designers but her style was a little too matchy for Westchester, and her haircut was clearly not from a _true _professional. Her makeup was a little too pronounced for a day of shopping.

"I don't work here."

"Oh, I didn't recognize you so I assumed that you must work here," Alicia chirped. "White Plains is a small town after all."

"Actually there's upwards of nine hundred thousand people in Westchester," the blonde replied rather snidely.

"Right," Alicia kept a bright smile on her face, but her tone was pointed, and the girl's eyes widened as Alicia's brown eyes turned cold and glared at her, "but it's a small town." She turned casual again, "you must go to ADD then!"

"No, I'm new here actually; I'm going to be going to Briarwood Academy," she held out her hand. "I'm Claire Lyons."

"Alicia Rivera." Alicia didn't shake her hand, forcing Claire to drop it uncomfortably. "I'll see you around Kuh-Laire, I need to find a replacement for this eye shadow palette I've been using. It would seem some blonde girl, kind of like your blonde actually, broke it at a party I had."

With those snappy words, Alicia left Claire standing there looking thunderstruck.

* * *

"So then I implied that she broke my favourite eye shadow palette and walked away," Alicia told Derrick.

The two of them were going to the movies together to "bond". Derrick was driving and listening to Alicia fill him in on her shopping trip. He smirked as she wrapped up her story.

"Is she hot?"

"Does it matter?" Alicia asked, pulling out her iPhone so she could use the camera to check her makeup as they pulled into the theatre's parking lot.

"Obviously not, but I'm wondering what we're going to be up against."

Alicia shrugged. "She's no match for Massie if she manages to piss her off."

They walked in comfortable silence through the lot and towards the doors.

"22 Jump Street or the Fault in our Stars?" Derrick asked as they drew near.

"I won't force you to see the Fault in our Stars, so 22 Jump Street."

"I'm going to need see ID, this movie is rated," the lady at the ticket counter informed them.

Alicia and Derrick pulled out their fakes. She barely looked at them before handing back their ID's, the tickets and their change. Derrick's change actually, he had insisted on paying.

"Have a nice date."

"This isn't a date, he's my brother," Alicia raised an eyebrow at the now flustered woman. "Try not to make an assumption next time."

Derrick rolled his eyes and wrapped an arm around her shoulder, steering Alicia away. "Let's go get popcorn before you take offense to something else, loser."

Alicia stuck out her tongue at him. "I'm paying for popcorn."

"No you're not."

* * *

_I don't know, I thought that was a cute way to end it. Tell me what you think!_


	3. Chapter 3

_psychotic honeybadger of death- _Your review made me so happy I squealed. **Nice to meet you Sarah, you've got great name!** (I got mine for my birthday) As far as Claire, Layne, coolness etcetera: you'll have to wait and see, but they have their moments! I think you won't mind who's with Cam in the end…

_Guest- _I'm not Claire's biggest fan either. Do with that information what you will… I'm glad you like Alicia and Derrick; it was really fun to write. I'm also glad you get the whole group dynamic thing, and well, you'll just have to see about whether it's Massington or not!

_Guest- _I'm glad you like it!

_outside the crayon box- _Thank you!

_shifa- _Take me with you! Just kidding, but do I ever love them. Anyways, I can sympathize with you, but hey, no complaints, you're reading my story now!

_Guest- _I have read it actually! I'm glad that you like everyone, thanks for the review!

_If you notice that these chapters are shorter, it's just because I keep finding really good places to stop while I'm writing. The next one will be roughly the same length as the first, which was about 5k. Pinkie swear._

* * *

Westchester entered an unusual lull after that party and it lasted until the first day of school. The first day back at Briarwood always drummed up nerves and anticipation as well as a nostalgic loss for the summer that was now almost a year away again.

Massie Block thrived on first days. It was the first time that she would come face to face with the other students, and she positively _lived _for admiring looks. With that in mind, she'd put together what she considered to be the perfect look for the first day back. The three girls had agreed that ankle boots were what they would plan their first day outfits, and more vaguely their fall wardrobe, around. Massie had chosen dark brown, almost black, ankle boots with four inch heels. With them she'd paired black knee high socks, a dark maroon high waist skirt that ended around the upper middle of her thighs pulled over a black skin tight top with a sweetheart neckline and an olive green jacket that ended at the same place as her skirt. A dark beige scarf completed her look, and her hair was left in its long, natural waves.

Pairing her killer outfit with her killer car, it was no wonder she continued to turn heads as she pulled into her usual parking spot at Briarwood. Skye had gotten there a few moments before her, Alicia pulling in with Derrick just a moment after. Both girls looked aa amazing as their brunette friend. Alicia had also chosen a skirt, a navy blue one of similar length to Massie's and a knit sweater the same colour as Massie's skirt. She added a silver spiky necklace and had black boots. Skye wore black leather leggings and a burgundy and white striped sweater with the sleeves pushed up to her elbows. She also had black boots. Both girls had curled their hair.

They fell into step on both sides of Massie as they crossed the parking lot and entered the courtyard amidst stares from their fellow students. Derrick trailed behind them, stopping to catch up with Danny Robbins before joining his friends again. Josh, Cam, Chris and Kemp were already seated on the ledge around one of the two closely spaced huge marble fountains that rose from the middle of Briarwood's courtyard. The girls and Derrick sat down on her other. The space between them was narrow enough to dissuade anyone from daring to walk through the middle and interrupt their conversation.

"As anyone seen her?" Skye said in lieu of her normal cheery hello.

They shook their heads. Cam opened his mouth, but shut it again when Massie's hand slapped Derrick in the stomach loudly, waving to get their attention, and subtly jerking her head to the side.

Claire Lyons was making her first appearance at Briarwood. She was looking mildly angelic with a white lace dress with triangle cut outs around her waist, a gold necklace and black Jimmy Choo's. Her blonde hair was pin-straight and her blue eyes were outlined, make them sharp and defined.

The usual loud chatter of pre-class social time was hushed, everyone was murmuring to each other about the new girl. Some were clearly bragging that they had already met/seen her, others were claiming that she couldn't be important if they hadn't heard to her already. Everyone was watching Massie and her friends to see what their reactions were.

They were ignoring her for the most part. When she drew close enough that they could take notice of her without _taking notice_ of her, they looked up in unison. Each face wore an identical look of cool disinterest mixed with boredom at her arrival. She had to pass by them to get inside the building however, and Alicia spoke to her.

"Kuh-Laire right?" She asked coolly.

"Claire, yeah," the blonde replied, somewhat nervously.

Massie's full lips flattened into a disapproving line, something that everyone at Briarwood picked up on, and she held out a hand. "I'm Massie Block."

"Macey?" Claire questioned.

"Massie. It rhymes with classy," the brunette replied icily. She had no patience for people that mispronounced her name. "Where are you from?" It was more of an order to speak than a question; they clearly already knew what they wanted to know about her.

"I'm from Orlando."

Skye gave her a onceover, raising her eyebrows and pursing her lips at the end of it. She didn't seem impressed with what she saw.

"Orlando?" Kemp asked in a mocking tone. "The height of class," he muttered to Cam who hid his snort badly.

"What's your first class Kuh-Laire?"

"Biology."

"AP?"

"No."

"None of us are in your class then. Interesting meeting you Kuh-Laire. See you," Massie and Derrick stood up in unison. Alicia and Cam fell into step on the sides of them and Skye, Josh, Chris and Kemp were on their heels.

They left Claire standing there, sweeping past her into the school. With various "see you later's" Alicia and Chris split off down one hallway to their lockers, Skye, Kemp, Josh and Derrick down another, and Massie and Cam continued straight.

"Did you see her face when Alicia called her out?" Cam had to slouch to get down to the petite brunette's height.

She was laughing as she nodded. "She looked like she was ready to run when she saw all of us looking at her!" They stopped at Massie's locker first, and she dumped all her things into it, pulling out her Biology notebook and her pencil case to toss into her bag. "She could still be a threat though; she was clearly sizing us up."

* * *

_I thought only burnouts didn't take AP._

**So did I, what's her deal?**

_I don't know, but we need to figure it out. In the meantime, make her want to be your friend. _

**On it. **

Massie nodded without really looking at Alicia so her friend would know she'd read the note. She shoved the paper into the bottom of her bag where no one would find it. Checking her phone, which sat on her desk, once to see what messages she'd gotten, she went back to writing her notes. Briarwood had to be the only school that picked up right where it left off at the end of the previous year.

* * *

"Where's Alicia?" Kemp looked concerned as Massie took her seat at their usual table for lunch.

She opened her Cesar salad and shrugged. "Off with Claire Lyons probably.

When she looked up next, everyone was staring at her silently, eyes wide. She snorted at their faces.

"Relax guys, I told her to make Claire want to be her friend, so Al is showing her around today at lunch. She'll be back tomorrow."

They visibly relaxed.

"And anyways Kemp, you'll see her pretty face next period, don't be too heartbroken."

"What?" He was already starting to look defensive.

Skye burst into laughter. "Come on Hurley, we all know you like her. I think Alicia's the only one left on the planet that doesn't know!"

"What! No! I don't like her!"

"Why are you vaguely the colour of a tomato then?" Cam asked, popping a grape into his mouth and smirking.

"Shut the fuck up Fisher." Kemp snapped.

"It's okay Kemp, we can find out if she likes you too," Massie smiled at him. "All you have to do is ask."

Kemp looked at her hopefully, giving her his best puppy dog eyes. Derrick threw one of Cam's grapes at him, earning an indignant squawk from his best friend. Kemp grabbed it before it could hit his chest and threw it up, catching it in his mouth before returning to the puppy dog look.

"Don't look so desperate man, we're on it," Derrick announced.

He looked moderately panicked and whirled around to face Massie again. "You're going to help him right?!"

Everyone laughed, Derrick included although he looked mildly put out. "I'm kind of offended you don't have faith in me. I set up my mom and Alicia's dad."

"Actually that was Skye," Chris cut in before he could continue.

Derrick practically pouted. Massie patted his arm sympathetically. "Don't worry D, we still love you. You just suck at setting people up."

He looked up at her with mock adoration. "Teach me your ways, girls."

Skye and Massie pretended to think about it before Skye shrugged. "I guess we could give you a few pointers. Watch carefully over the next few weeks, or you'll miss our subtle moves."

To prove that she was being ironic, she immediately pulled out her phone.

**Skye [12:24 pm]: **kemp missed you at lunch today leesh.  
**Alicia [12:24 pm]: **what! No he didn't!

"And voila," she tossed her phone on the table, letting everyone read the message.

"What does that prove?" Cam asked, clearly confused.

"You know Alicia even better than I do Cam, what would she say if I said that you missed her at lunch?" Skye asked, imitating a teacher's patient tone perfectly.

"Of course he did, or something along those lines," Cam replied immediately. A moment later it dawned on him. "OH!"

"You just learned the first lesson D, I hope you took notes." Massie commented, pulling out her own phone to text Alicia as well. "Everyone pout, I'm taking a picture."

She turned around in her chair so that she could be included in the shot. Turning her front facing camera on, she took a picture of everyone's most over-the-top pouts.

**Massie [12:27 pm]: **we all miss you al… kemp a little more than the rest of us ;)

She kept Alicia's response private, as it was a request for a _private conversation_ that night at Massie's house. She texted back her agreement. Her parents were out of town again, Brazil this time, and they wouldn't be interrupted by Inez or Isaac. Alicia sent her a row of gun emoji's and a sad face a moment later, followed by a request for Massie to kill her because Claire had _possibly the most irritating chipmunk-esque voice Alicia had ever heard._ Masse practically snorted Perrier out of her nose as she read it.

"Hey Block," Derrick's voice cut into her thoughts.

Her gold eyes shot over to him. "Yeah, what's up?"

"The city after school?"

"I'd love to, but I made girl-plans with Al. Tomrrow?"

He nodded, looking a little disappointed but his usually happy grin returned in a moment. "Sure thing."

* * *

Alicia had gone home with Massie after school, leaving Derrick free to do whatever he liked. The two girls decided to swing by the Dr. Juice drive-thru on their way back to the Block Estate. Alicia ordered an extra-large Calm, Massie a large Power.

They were mostly silent on the way home, preferring to save their conversation for when random people at stoplights wouldn't overhear. The second the door had shut behind Alicia, she started talking.

"Before we get into Kuh-Laire, we need to have the boy talk."

"Of course," Massie agreed. "Let's go to my bedroom."

Once they were both comfortably seated on Massie's bed, the chatter began to flow. Alicia looked very vulnerable as she looked at Massie.

"Did you and Skye mean what you said at lunch?"

"About us missing you?"

"About Kemp missing me," Alicia clarified. "You were joking right?"

"Yes, but no."

"What the hell does that mean?"

"I mean, we were joking around with you, but he did actually miss you," Massie replied.

"But did he _miss me_ miss me?"

"Alicia, what are you really asking me?"

"Does Kemp like me?"

"Do you like Kemp?"

"Massie, don't do this."

Massie sighed, grabbing a hair elastic from her bedside table and twirled it around her fingers. She focused on that for a few moments, leaving Alicia in the dark while she contemplated telling her the truth. Kemp was one of her best friends, but Alicia was her _best friend_ –along with Cam and Derrick of course. Deciding that that was more important, she looked up, still absent-mindedly twisting the elastic. Alicia was staring at her intensely.

"Come on Massie, spill."

"Alright, we were all talking at lunch today. Kemp asked where you were. I told everyone you were with Claire and they freaked out before I explained why. I made a joke about Kemp seeing you next period so he didn't have to worry. He got a little defensive and Skye suggested that we all knew that Kemp liked you. He never actually admitted it, but he asked us for help in getting you to like him, so yes, Kemp likes you. Do you like him?"

"I don't know."

"That's bullshit," Massie scoffed. "It's okay to like someone Al; we're not all as heartless as I am."

"Okay, maybe I do." Alicia's voice was muffled; she'd buried her perfect face in her hands in embarrassment.

"Great, what do you want to do about it?"

Alicia slowly looked up as an idea dawned on her. "We have to make him admit it to me. Without the guarantee that I like him back. I need to know that he's legit about this."

"Done and done." Massie held out her fist and Alicia bumped it with a mischievous grin.

"Now, tell me all about Claire."

Alicia promptly exploded. "Claire is possibly the most annoying person I have ever met. She talked about Orland for almost FORTY-FIVE MINUTES and I had to pretend to be interested enough that she would want to be friends with me! Do you know how _hard_ it is to pretend to be interested in Orland-ew? Extremely hard Mass! Why couldn't you have asked Skye to make her want to be friends? Skye's the one that 'befriended' Layne! Why couldn't she have done it this time? And her voice is the most grating sound I have ever heard. Listening to it for that long gave me roughly the same amount of pain I would get from taking a cheese shredder to them. And she's so full of herself! You can tell just by having a conversation with her how much she thinks of herself. She takes it past being confident or even cocky and into being self-obsessed. I actually have only had two conversations with her and I already hate her. I absolutely hate her!"

Massie listened to this intently. She let Alicia catch her breath and ordered two grilled cheese sandwiches from Inez. Grilled cheese was Alicia's comfort food. She rubbed her best friend's back soothingly.

"I'm sorry you had a rough time Al," she sympathized. "I'm sure this tripled your good karma."

"I did learn something." Alicia bolted upright as she remembered this.

"What?" Massie asked eagerly, her curiosity getting the better of her.

Alicia rubbed her hands together. "We really need to schedule manicures ASAP… but anyways, you'll never believe this."

"What?" Massie repeated, more intensely.

Alicia's eyes narrowed. She had her gossip face on, Massie knew whatever was coming was going to be good. They were interrupted by Inez knocking on the door.

"Miss Mahssie, I have your grilled cheese-es." Her heavily accented voice floated through the oak door.

"Come in Inez!" Massie responded without taking her eyes off of Alicia's face.

The petite maid entered the suite, bringing two plates with delicious looking grilled cheese sandwiches on them.

"We'll take those over here," Massie instructed.

Inez wore a vague look of disapproval that they were eating on the bed, but her maternal smile remained. "Enjoy Miss Mahssie."

"Thank you Inez, don't worry about the plates, I'll bring them down myself."

Inez smiled in acknowledgement and let herself back out of the room. "I will be cleaning if you need me."

"Thank you again!" Massie called as the door shut.

When they had their privacy, Alicia's smirk returned. Massie took a bite of the grilled cheese and practically moaned at how good it was.

"Alright, tell me what this major news is."

"Are you ready," Alicia was clearly enjoying milking her news.

"For fuck's sake Alicia-"

"Claire Lyons knows Layne."

"Abeley?"

"Yes Layne Abeley. The same one who left Westchester."

"More like we ran her out of Westchester."

Massie was already calling Derrick with the news.

"Hello? Block? Did you change your mind about going into the city tonight?"

"Claire knows Layne."

Derrick dropped his phone.

* * *

_I really like reviews... just throwing that out there..._


	4. Chapter 4

_moonlightwishes9-_Since I'm writing and posting this as I go –I do have plan but you know –I'm pretty excited to see where this goes too! Please do keep reading.

_charlesxaviers- _Claire is almost _never _a character that I like, mostly because I just don't like her. And thank you! That's such a compliment! I _**love **_Arctic Monkeys. I'd have to say that my favourite is _505_. I picked the title because I was listening to Favourite Worst Nightmare while I was writing the first chapter. What's yours? And I do love hugs a lot, but I have a different plan in mind for Derrick and Cam. Sorry.  
P.S. give me a bag of Jolly Ranchers and I'll definitely marry you!

_psychotic honeybadger of death- _I literally look forward to you reviewing, like I squeal when I read them. I LOVE KEMP AND ALICIA I'M SO GLAD YOU LIKE THEM. I really liked their outfits. I actually get all of them off of _WeHeartIt_ so I don't take credit for them at all, I just describe them. I've been obsessed with long hair since my mom first cut mine off when I was little so I would gladly take it from them! Unfortunately, I can guarantee that Cam is _not_ a werewolf so you might have to wait until my next story for werewolf babies. If you wrote it, I would read it! I'm down for the name club; let me know if you meet any other Sarah's.

_ - _Wow, shout out to you for reviewing, favouriting, and following my story and favouriting and following me! I love you. As I've said many times, I'm not a Claire fan either so hey, bonding! You can definitely hope for Massington, hope is never a bad thing. I'll definitely finish this story!

_Guest- _You can keep hoping! Thank you!

_Dosesofjai- _I really wanted to write Alicia and Kemp together in a romantic way not in a friends-with-benefits way because I've never found a fanfic with that before. I'm not sure if they'll last –this is high school after all. Kristen makes an appearance in this chapter!

_Guest- _You'll have to keep reading to learn her backstory!

_outside the crayon box- _Aw, you're such a sweetheart! Ily xoxoxo

_Guest- _I'm glad you think so! And they're juniors. Thanks for the review!

_Reader277- _Thank you! I'm glad you like it! Nice to meet you too.

_Guest- _Aw thank you!

* * *

"Um, Derrick?" Massie asked into the phone after a few seconds of static-y silence.

Nobody answered. Alicia's brow wrinkled in confusion.

"Did he throw the phone across the room?"

"I think so…"

They waited patiently for Derrick to first retrieve his sanity and control, and then his phone from across the room. After a minute, it became clear that that procedure was going to take a while, so Massie excused herself from her bedroom to take the plates downstairs. The trip gave her enough time to become furious that Claire had intruded in their life after everything was going so well. She was determined that this wouldn't be another _Layne Abeley_ situation. This would be dealt with before it became an issue. How? Massie wasn't sure, but she knew that between the eight of something, they'd come up with a deliciously evil plan that would make Claire run for the hills. Or whatever there was back in Orlando.

When she arrived back at her suite, she heard talking from inside. Slowing her footsteps, she listened intently for the nature of the conversation. It sounded like Alicia had called up Cam on the other line, and the two of them were still waiting for Derrick to get back on the line. She rolled her eyes –Derrick Harrington was the biggest drama queen she'd ever met. And she had known _Alicia _for her entire life. Without a further thought, she pushed her bedroom door open, and grabbed her phone from the bed.

"Cammie, cover your ears," she instructed, giving him approximately 0.5 seconds to do so. "DERRICK LUKE HARRINGTON YOU HAVE THREE SECONDS TO PICK UP THE PHONE OR WE'LL SCHEME WITHOUT INCLUDING YOU. 1…2…"

"I'm back!" Derrick announced.

"Thought so," Massie smirked triumphantly, and Alicia giggled.

"So, what are we going to do about Claire Lyons?" Cam demanded –he wasn't going to be sidetracked.

"I'm sorry Cam, I didn't magically come up with a plan in the two minutes I was gone," Massie snapped. "Did you?"

"…no."

"I didn't think so." Massie flopped backwards on her bed, leaving the phone in between her and Alicia. "So let's talk now. What's the first step?"

"We need to find out if Todd is going to be a problem," Alicia pointed out. "If he is, we'll need to adjust the plan to deal with both of them."

Cam and Derrick made noises of agreement. Massie slowly sat up, eyes gleaming.

"Alicia, what grade is Todd in?"

"Ninth."

"So he's in high school," Massie confirmed.

"Obviously," Cam snorted.

"Which means that he almost certainly wants to join the soccer team…" Massie trailed off, shooting Alicia a devious look.

"Which means that Soccer Captain Derrick Harrington may just have to give him some pointers," Alicia caught on quickly.

"Why do I have to do it!" Derrick whined. "Why don't we make Josh do it!"

"You're the captain Derrick, fulfil your captain-ly duties," Massie ordered.

"You guys owe me for this," he grumbled, and hung up his phone before they could protest further.

"Did he hang up?" Cam had obviously gone to get chips, or some sort of equally crunchy snack food.

"Yeah," Alicia supplied when it was clearly Massie was too busy rolling her eyes at the stupidity of her friends to answer.

"Look Cam, we kind of have a girls' night to finish, so we'll see you tomorrow," Massie grabbed her phone, preparing to hang up.

"Wait! Can you pick me up tomorrow Mass? My car broke down on my way home today?"

"What happened?" Alicia asked, curiosity piqued.

"Engine problem," Cam replied vaguely.

"You'll have to ask Skye, I'm getting a ride with Derrick tomorrow," Massie replied. "I can Thursday though, if you need a ride still?"

"I can pick you up since Derrick and I are going separately," Alicia announced.

"Okay, thanks Alicia."

"Sure, pick you up at 8-ish." Alicia chirped.

"Bye Cammie!" Massie grinned and hung up the phone.

"Movie time?" Alicia asked hopefully.

"Movie time!" Massie agreed. "Let's watch _When a Stranger Calls_!"

"I'll go track it down, you get snacks?" Alicia suggested.

"Deal, meet in the theatre in ten," Massie ordered, and sauntered out of her bedroom. "There's blankets and shit already in there!" She called over her shoulder to her friend.

"Given!" Alicia called back, digging through Massie's movie collection in search of movie selections.

* * *

They were roughly halfway through _Bereavement_. It was about 8:30 and the two girls were lying on the same couch, folded over top of each other, eyes glued to the screen. The door to Massie's home theatre swung open suddenly and both girls screeched at the top of their lungs, throwing a bowl of Skittles at the person in the doorway. A familiar cackle made them both groan and fall back against the couch, relaxed again. Massie whipped one of the extra pillows at Chris Plovert. He snorted, picked up the pillow, and threw it back at her with precise aim. Massie ducked, and it hit Alicia square in the face.

"Hey!" She yelped; "what the fuck guys!"

Massie and Chris snickered, and Massie motioned him into the dim room. He slid the dimmer switch up the wall, immersing them in full light.

"Hey, is it okay that I'm here?" Chris bounced on the balls of his feet somewhat nervously, standing in front of them.

"Of course," Alicia waved the very idea that he wasn't welcome off, and yanked his arm until he sat down on the foot stool half a foot in front of them. "What's up Chris? You look bothered by something."

Massie murmured her agreement, her eyes fixed on Chris. The two girls waited patiently as he open and closed his mouth several times. Massie helped herself to some of the popcorn as she waited. They could both sense that whatever was coming was something major, and it was hard for Chris to tell them.

"Um… I think I'm gay?" He said it like a question.

Massie raised an eyebrow. "You _think_ you're gay?"

"I'm gay."

Alicia and Massie looked at each other briefly. They both shrugged, looking back at him again.

"Okay, cool. Want to order a pizza with us?" Massie asked, twirling a strand of hair that had fallen out of her messy bun.

"That's it?" He seemed to have been expecting the worst.

"That's it," Alicia confirmed. "Not to sound uncaring but we _really _don't care. You're still Chris whether you 'think' you're gay or not." She was teasing him for his initial shyness. "Pizza? What do you want on it? I'm thinking pepperoni and sausage."

"I'm sure Chris wants sausage on his," Massie's eyes twinkled with delight at her joke. "Sorry Chris, I had to get one in."

He waved it off. "I saw it coming."

"Well, I'm fine with whatever, so you and Alicia can duke it out over the toppings," she announced. "I just want cheesy delight in my belly."

* * *

True to her word, Alicia picked Cam up for school the next day. He was waiting for her on the front steps of his house _like the good little boy his mom raised him to be_ Alicia had teased. He rolled his different coloured eyes good-naturedly and hopped in, shutting the passenger side door behind him gently. Slamming doors –as everyone knew –was considered offensive in Westchester. As Alicia pulled out smoothly onto the main road, she was a good driver although she preferred to let others drive, Cam cut across their usual rambling, morning conversation.

"So I hear that Chris told he's gay," he announced casually, popping a piece of gum into his mouth.

Alicia slammed on her breaks. "WHAT!" She screeched, along with her tires. The young man in the truck behind swerved around her, hand hammering down on his horn and shouting on her. "Shut the fuck up asshole!" She shouted over the noise, flipping him off.

His eyes widened in shock at her language, and he pulled ahead of them quickly as Alicia tapped the gas pedal on her car again. Cam was doubled over in laughter.

"Cameron Xavier Fisher you cannot just _spring _that on someone!" She hissed at him as they approached a stop sign.

"Well, I already knew," Cam defended himself. "I didn't think it would be a big deal to bring it up?"

Alicia was distracted from her anger by this new information. "You knew already?"

"He told me last year while he was drunk," Cam explained. "Apparently he really needed to get it off his chest."

Alicia shrugged as much as one can shrug with both hands on a steering wheel. "I guess so. Do you know if anyone else knows?"

"I doubt it," Cam muttered, seeming distracted. "He's been planning to tell the two of you for a while; it didn't leave him much time to plan to tell other people."

She pulled into Cam's normal parking spot as they arrived at Briarwood. "Either way, I don't think it would matter who he told. No one would care; he's being a little ridiculous."

"A little," Cam agreed, still with a distracted look in his eyes.

Alicia followed his gaze and saw Derrick walking away from Massie after leaving her with Josh, talking to Todd Lyons. "Good, he's actually following through," she noted.

Cam nodded in agreement, looping a casual arm around Alicia's shoulders as they met up with Massie and Josh. The two of them smiled in greeting.

"Where's Skye, Kemp, and Chris?" Cam questioned, giving Massie a loose hug hello.

"Skye has an appointment, Kemp and Chris are getting breakfast, and we said we'd join them when you two got here. They're serving pancakes!" Josh seemed in a hurry to get back to the food as he rattled off the information at hyper-speed.

"Let's go then, before Josh wastes away," Alicia mocked him good-naturedly as the foursome turned and headed into the school.

Of course, Claire Lyons had gotten there right before them, and was standing in line just ahead of Alicia and Massie. Alicia tapped her on the shoulder as the slow-moving line shuffled forwards.

"Hey Claire," she said sweetly, shooting her an equally sickening smile.

Claire, unfortunately for her, seemed to buy it. "Hey Alicia!" Her bright expression dimmed a few notches as her eyes fell on Massie, Josh and Cam, who were all wearing identical shit-eating smirks. "Massie… and boys…" she added, a flash of uncertainty lacing her tone.

"Kuh-Laire," Massie chirped, still managing to insert enough venom in her voice to make Claire uneasy. "How's Briarwood treating you? What's the first impression?"

She was clearly giving Alicia a break from make-friends-with-Claire duty, which was proven by the sideways relieved look her friend shot at her. Cam and Josh picked up on it and snickered to themselves. Claire remained oblivious.

"It's nice so far, small classes, and seemingly okay teachers," Claire told her, sliding her tray along the metal tracks. "Everyone really knows everyone around here."

"It's a small town," Massie agreed, unwittingly imitating some of Alicia's first words to Claire.

The blonde's bright blue eyes flashed up to hers. She looked startled for a moment, but recovered well.

"So I've been told," she agreed.

"Did you leave anyone behind in Orlando?" Massie asked innocently.

Claire shrugged, her eyes closing off a little bit. "No one special," she replied casually.

"Well, it's just _great _to have a fresh face here. We haven't had anyone knew since the ninth grade. That poor girl didn't last very long. What was her name… Layne?" Massie asked her friends.

They nodded, resembling supportive bobble heads. Massie turned back to Claire.

"Layne Abeley," She announced.

As Massie had hoped and anticipated, Claire's face seemed to fight between shock and rage over the fact that Massie would dare to bring Layne up after basically forcing her into leaving town. Massie pointed one perfectly manicured index finger over Claire's shoulder.

"It's your turn to order Kuh-Laire." She pointed this out, adopting Alicia's sweet tone from before.

"You guys can go," Claire stammered. "I'm not ready yet."

"No, it doesn't look like you are _ready_," Massie commented pointedly, pushing past her. "Nice talking to you Claire!"

As they slid into their seats at their table, Massie hummed happily. "I love having the upper hand in conversations, don't you?" She asked Kemp and Chris, completely out of context.

"Sure Mass," Kemp looked mildly confused, with a hint of resignation that only a friend of teenage girls could understand. Within seconds he had struck up a conversation with Alicia, who had purposely sat across from him.

Massie winked at her friend when she noticed how fully attentive Kemp was being towards her. Alicia didn't respond with any facial cues, but Massie knew her friends was secretly texting her under the table as she carried on a perfectly normal conversation.

**Alicia [8:19 am]: **do you think he's going to say anything?  
**Massie [8:19 am]: **I doubt it he doesn't know you like him A

Alicia, after fake-dropping her napkin to read Massie's text, sat up straight again and shrugged one shoulder, conceding to Massie as she resumed telling Kemp the story of how she'd almost killed Cam that morning –leaving out Chris' involvement in it.

* * *

None of them saw Derrick again until lunch due to their schedules. He was already sitting there when Massie entered the room, and her stomach tightened in anticipation of the 'Todd News. She was so focused on her table that she almost didn't notice when Claire nervously made her way up to stand cautiously at Massie's left elbow. It was only thanks to her extreme self-control that she didn't jump and squeak in surprise when the blonde appeared.

"Can I help you with something Kuh-Laire?" She asked, making direct eye contact with her.

She didn't sound subtly rude for once, and Claire took that as an invitation to actually speak with her. "I was hoping I could sit with you and Alicia at lunch today. It's either that or Olivia Ryan anyways, and she seems like kind of a dumbass." She said the last part hesitantly, in case Massie happened to like Olivia.

"She is a dumbass," Massie agreed. "You can sit with us today, we normally wouldn't have room, but Skye isn't here."

"Thank you," Claire looked relieved and followed Massie to the table.

Her friends all looked up in shock, and Massie tried not to giggle as Derrick and Josh's eyebrows twitched in unison. Alicia widened her eyes a fraction of an inch in question. Massie narrowed hers back in response, and Alicia leaned over and whispered something to Cam, who told Chris, who told Josh and Derrick. They were far enough away, and subtle enough in their experienced trash-talking, that Claire didn't notice. Massie dropped into her seat across from Alicia, next to Kemp. Claire sat down on Massie's other side, the spot that Skye would have occupied had she been there that day

"Kuh-Laire, this is Derrick, Joshua, Cameron, Christopher, and Kemp. Clearly you already know Alicia, you two have talked," Massie announced.

Chris threw a bread roll at Massie's head for the use of his full name. She batted it away, and it flew hitting Allie-Rose Singer in the back of the head. The tall girl whirled around, looking for the culprit, and Massie's friends –and Claire –all looked away, focusing on conversations with each other. Three seconds later, Allie was shouting at some random loser, who looked appalled to be called out in public by a member of the B-list at their school. Derrick snorted rather unattractively.

"Cute you two," he commented, keeping his eyes on Massie.

"Tell me something I don't know _amiright_ Chris?" Massie joked.

"Yeah, Massie and I are going to get married and move in with Alicia's cousins in Spain." Chris deadpanned.

Massie blew him a kiss. Turning to the blonde beside her, she shot Alicia a _please don't hate me _look. "So Claire, tell us more about Orlando."

* * *

Derrick waited until they were heading towards the city, and well away from anyone who would recognize them, to explode. "WHY WOULD YOU BRING UP ORLANDO MASSIE? SHE TALKED FOR THIRTY-TWO MINUTES."

Massie smirked, checking her lip gloss in her front facing camera. "Sorry, I thought what with your previous flings with Olivia Ryan, you'd be able to tune out rambling blondes."

Derrick flipped her off, keeping his left hand on the wheel. Massie made a kissy noise at him before answering her ringing phone.

"Skye Cassandra Hamilton how dare you interrupt me when I'm in the middle of something very important!" Massie greeted.

"Sorry to interrupt your hot date, but the gang's here and they demanded that since I didn't have to sit through Claire today at lunch, I had to be the one to remind you not to get the Todd scoop from Derrick before us." Skye answered, ignoring Massie's attempt to interrupt her at the word _date_.

"Put me on speaker for a moment my lovely friend," Massie requested, waving off Derrick's inquisitive look and mouthing _I'll tell you after_.

"You're on speaker," Skye crackled, sounded farther away.

"I want you all to listen to me very closely. First: this isn't a date. Second: just because you guys told me not to, I'm going to hear about Todd first, so kiss my ass, suckers!" Massie chirped and hung up the phone.

Derrick let out what could only be considered a giggle from the driver's seat. She grinned at him.

"So Derrick, tell me the Todd scoop."

"No way, they don't want you to hear it before they do," he protested.

"I'm sure I'll find a way to convince you," Massie replied.

They delved into random conversation after that, featuring a long story on how Danny Robbins had managed to melt a Bunsen burner.

* * *

The first stop on their evening in New York City was a visit to Derrick's older twin siblings, Sammi and Patrick. They were thrilled to see Massie… and Derrick after he reminded them that their younger brother did, in fact, exist. After Patrick had finished smothering Massie in one of his bear hugs, the twins bickered for several minutes before Patrick relented and went to find them drinks. Sammi immediately leaned forward, bracing her elbows on her knees.

"Tell me everything about Briarwood!" She announced, Harrington-brown eyes fixed on Massie.

The younger girl gladly recounted the tales of Westchester, with Derrick adding in helpful –sometimes not so helpful- points that he believed Massie had "missed". She'd actually deemed them "unimportant", but she let Derrick have his way. When they got to Claire –just as Patrick got back into the room –Sammi slammed her feet into the ground once and groaned.

"Another new girl?" Patrick asked, looking unimpressed.

"Another new girl," Derrick confirmed, with an identical look on his face.

"And she knows Layne."

"WHAT!"

Massie waited for them to settle down. Sammi took the longer of the two, but once the nineteen year old girl was calm again, Massie let her ask the inevitable question.

"What are you guys going to do?"

Massie looked at Derrick who shrugged. She turned back to the twins. "We're calling in the master."

Their eyes lit up in understanding. Patrick grinned a goofy smile. "Let me know how it goes."

* * *

As they left the apartment, leaving Derrick's car there so that they wouldn't have to worry about parking, Massie hugged both of them goodbye and promised to visit again as soon as she could. Derrick kissed his sister's cheek and slapped hands with Patrick. The older boy winked at Massie.

"Feel free to come back on your own."

Massie grinned at him.

When they were out on the street again, Derrick glared at her. "If you fuck my brother we can't be friends anymore."

"Then tell me the Todd story."

"No way," Derrick replied, looking amused.

Massie pouted at him. "I thought we were best friends Derrick."

"We are Block."

"Then tell me!" She insisted, fighting the urge to stomp her foot on the pavement.

"No way," he repeated, leading her through a crowd of people so they weren't separated.

"Come one, I'll owe you then!" Massie wheedled.

He slowed down and turned his head to face her. "Owe me as in a favour?"

She nodded.

"Of my choosing?"

"Within reason," she conceded.

"Deal."

"Let's go to the Shake Shack for dinner, and talk about it!" Massie dragged him through the familiar streets of NYC.

* * *

"So, Derrick, did you tell Massie the Todd story yesterday?" Alicia demanded.

Derrick nodded, bracing himself for their outrage. He wasn't disappointed. Alicia's mouth dropped open, Skye's eyes widened, and Cam, Kemp, Josh, and Chris all glared at him. Massie was smirking triumphantly. Derrick shot her a look, and the smile was wiped off her face.

"And now Block owes me a favour!" He was practically leaping out of his seat in glee as he wiggled triumphantly.

"_Within reason_!" Massie snapped.

Derrick was too busy high-fiving the guys to take notice. Skye and Alicia gave Massie sympathetic looks, they had all been victim to one of the boys' "favours" more than once. Massie pouted while the boys celebrated. Alicia finally took pity on her and cleared her throat loudly. They all looked up, startled.

"_The Todd Story_?" Alicia prompted pointedly.

"Right, okay," Derrick settled back into his chair, loosely wrapping is arm around the back of Massie's chair as he did so. "So, Todd Lyons is actually a decent soccer player who knew?"

Skye rolled her eyes. "We don't care, tell us the real story."

"Fine," Derrick sighed. "Todd was very oblivious to the questions I asked, but he also didn't give very straight answers. What I gathered is that he doesn't like Claire very much, she _definitely_ was friends with Layne, they sent him tons of pictures, he thinks that she's "encroaching on his territory", and he doesn't know why she decided to come to Westchester, but she begged her parents to move them out here."

"That's all you found out?" Kemp asked disappointed.

"That's all for now. But as I think he has a decent chance of making the soccer team –at least as a second-string –we'll have more chances to get to know him, and get more information out of him."

They all conceded this point, and Massie once again looked smug to have been told before them, no matter the price. Alicia leaned forward, elbows on the table, California Rolls forgotten.

"So, Mass, Der, what's the plan?"

"We're calling up the big guns," Derrick smirked, high-fiving Massie.

Skye's eyes widened and a grin formed on her face. "I can't wait."

* * *

"So Derrick how was your date?" Cam tossed a soccer ball from one hand to the other as they headed for the change room the next day after school.

"What date?"

"Your date with _Block_."

"Don't call her that," Derrick snapped, grabbing the ball from him.

"Call her what? Block?" Cam asked a huge smirk on his face.

"Exactly."

"Why not?"

"That's what I call her?"

"So? Alicia calls her Mass, that doesn't mean she has dibs on the nickname."

"Well I have dibs on this one."

"Why is that D? Got a crush?"

Derrick scoffed. "Of course not."

"You're getting less and less convincing."

"That's funny Cam, since it's getting less and less funny that you keep insisting Block and I have a thing."

"Then let me call her Block."

"The day you call her Block is the day that you and I switch places."

"Why?"

"She's mine."

"_She's_ yours?"

"The nickname is mine!" Derrick snapped, flustered, and hurried away from Cam.

* * *

_Reviews would make me happy!_


	5. Chapter 5

_**BREAKING NEWS- I PUT PICTURES UP OF ALL THE MAIN CHARACTERS ON MY PROFILE GO LOOK!**_

_psychotic honeybadger of death- _You find out part of Layne's story in this chapter! Todd's not a werewolf either, sorry. There's no need for bad hair extensions, I think you're safe. Keeeep reading! I love your reviews!

_outside the crayon box- _I'm so glad you like it!

_Loved it- _Thank you! And you'll have to keep reading to find out!

_Night Dawn- _Thank you, I'm happy you like it! And in response to your lovely (thank you) constructive criticism I'll let you know that there will be more elaboration later on, I just wanted to stress how unimportant something like Chris's sexuality is to their friendship. There will definitely be at least one more conversation about it!

_I don't know why but I seem to do the majority of my writing at 2 am and it's becoming a problem. Send help. This is just a short little chapter to explain a few things. And probably give you more questions, so enjoy!_

* * *

_Two years ago…_

_Massie Block's long, sleek ponytail swung in time with her hips as she slid out of the Range Rover beside Alicia and sauntered towards the school. In her peripheral vision she could see her best friend and thus was surprised when Alicia's foot hesitated before hitting the ground out of beat with her normal dancer's stride. When they arrived at the fountain –they'd already claimed it as theirs, Massie turned to look at her friend, taking a sip from her Dr. Juice. _

"_What's up Al? What was that misstep back there?"_

_Alicia pointed her chin in the direction she wanted Massie to look and stuck a spoonful of yogurt in her mouth. Massie's gold eyes swiveled to take in… a new girl? _

_She had long black ombre-d hair, bright green eyes that would rival Dylan Marvil's. Her skin was pale for early September. Everyone in Westchester spent at least one month somewhere equally or sunnier than the Hamptons. _

_Massie shrugged in response to Alicia's unspoken question. Skye had just arrived, blonde hair perfect as usual._

"_The new girl is Layne Abeley. She just moved here with her brother Chris. They're here on a "trial run" from their parents. She was flirting with Josh while they were both in line. He didn't look very impressed." Skye rattled off._

_Massie raised one perfect eyebrow. "Is she a problem?"_

_Skye took a long sip out of her Vitamin Water. "Potentially," she conceded with a displeased smirk. Alicia rolled her eyes._

"_Who joins a new school as exclusive as Briarwood as a freshman? Did she think that we wouldn't already be friends with each other? Does she not realize that all the girls went to OCD and all the guys went to the other Briarwood?" _

"_Calm down Al, we'll deal with her," Massie's eyes were already lit up in her "I have a plan" face. "I just have to talk to Derrick first. Keep an eye on her, but don't be friends. We don't want to give her the wrong idea."_

* * *

"_I got paired up with Layne Abeley in Chemistry," Cam announced as he slid into a seat at lunch. "She's definitely got an eye on Josh already. It took her two minutes to ask about him." _

_Massie rolled her eyes. "Why is always Josh that the girls are into?"_

"_Yeah!" Derrick pouted. "It's never me."_

_He was pelted with various pieces of their lunches for his sarcasm. Josh however, leaned back in his chair until he was balancing on two legs and lowered his Yankees farther down on his head. _

"_You're welcome to her; she gives me the creeps." _

_Skye crossed her arms, looking rather petulant about the whole thing. "I don't get what the fascination is with any of you boys. You're all pigs if you ask me."_

_Cam wiggled a finger. "Ah, but Skye-high, she didn't ask you. She asked me. And as a true friend, I talked Josh up as any bro would do with a potentially interested girl."_

_Josh's jaw dropped. "You talked me up to her?"_

"_Yes," Cam confirmed. "I told her all about how you bossed your sister around until this summer when you finally decided to grow up. Oddly enough, she still seemed interested. You've found yourself a keeper."_

_Alicia cleared her throat to get their attention. Once everyone had turned to look at her expectantly, the raven-haired girl crossed her arms and levelled Cam with a look._

"_You need to find out more about her Cam. Be subtle about it." She instructed._

_Massie practically beamed with pride. "Al, I've taught you so well!"_

* * *

_One year, eleven months ago…_

_Josh arrived at soccer practice a month into school looking worried. He didn't speak until Kemp finally grilled him into confiding in his friends. Reaching into one of the deep pockets on his shorts, he pulled out a crumpled note. He practically whipped it at Chris's head, prompting him to read it out loud. _

"_Dearest Joshua, I've known you for exactly one month today. I love you. We're going to be together forever. Keep an eye out for me. I'll be watching you. All my love, Layne."_

"_What the fuck dude," Derrick's eyes were wide._

* * *

_One year, ten months ago…_

"_Guys, I got another note. She told me she'd seen me sleep!" Josh was almost frantic as he waved the fifth note from Layne Abeley in the air._

_Kemp's eyes were wide as he met Josh's. "Dude, __**I**__ got a note from Layne."_

"_What the fuck!" Everyone blurted simultaneously. _

"_She told me she thinks that next to Josh, I'm the cutest boy ever and if for some reason she "can't have Josh" I'm her next target." Kemp ran a hand through his hair looking troubled. _

"_I'm kind of offended," Derrick muttered, crossing his arms._

_Alicia and Cam snorted in unison. Derrick eyed them with the look of a small child. _

"_What!" He demanded._

_Alicia giggled. "Nothing, it's just that, well, Massie took care to make sure you wouldn't be getting any notes when she threatened Layne." _

_Derrick raised an eyebrow at Massie who barely controlled her blush. "You did what?"_

_Massie shrugged nonchalantly drinking her chai tea. "I may have told Layne that if she ever sent you a note I would personally rip every last strand of hair out of her head and send her to Siberia."_

_Everyone stared at her in silence for over a minute. Massie got to her feet, her chair sliding backwards. _

_Levelling everyone with a glare, she grabbed her bag and slung it over her shoulder before grabbing her phone off the table. "I'm going to leave because I'm honestly feeling so attacked right now. Goodbye."_

_She flounced off to the laughter of her friends._

* * *

_One year, eight months ago…_

_Four months had passed since the commencement of the school year, and Layne Abeley was officially a problem. Josh had showed up at Massie's house –which was officially __The Spot to go When Problems Arise__ –practically hyperventilating. Layne had followed him home. Massie sighed and let him in, muttering a question about why Briarwood always got the crazies as she did so. She'd called Derrick up to bro him back to normal with Fifa in her theatre. It had cheered him up enough to explain what had happened. _

"_I was biking home from school after soccer practice and I saw her on the side of the road a couple blocks away from my house. I didn't really think anything of it because there's always kids our age out, and it's not like my neighbourhood is uncommon right? So I get home, unlock the door to let myself in and I locked it again because Hope gets really nervous when I leave the door unlocked while Mom's out. And I'm trying to be a better brother after the whole doll-hostage thing of the past. Anyways, the doors are all locked and it started to rain really hard so we shut all the windows. Hope was playing in her room or something and I was on my laptop doing my homework when my door opens. I look up expecting it to be my mom, but no. Layne fucking Abeley is standing in my bedroom doorway with this creepy grin on her face. Thank god my mom got home at that point or I probably would have been kidnapped! Apparently she climbed in through a window before it started raining."_

_Massie and Derrick were shocked. This had gone much farther than they had thought Layne's Josh obsession would. They exchanged a glance and got out their phones immediately, 911-ing the others. Skye was the first to arrive, looking freaked out by the text she'd received. _

_After they explained to everyone –and waited through the horrified reactions that this girl had __**broken into Josh's house without ever even having had a real conversation with him**__, they started to plan. Layne Abeley needed to be taken care of. _

"_Wait, won't we need to go after Chris too? After all, didn't he help her break into Josh's house?" Skye asked curiously._

_Massie pointed on perfectly manicured index finger at her. "Too true Skye, I'd almost forgotten how attentive you are."_

"_So what's the plan?" Chris and Kemp asked in unison, high-fiving each other afterwards in a typical guy fashion._

"_The plan," Massie whirled on them, "is to make Layne regret ever moving to Westchester. We're going to make her leave New York State. And of course, as the lovely Skye mentioned, Chris by extension."_

* * *

_Present day…_

"Is everyone here?" Massie asked, performing a quick head count of her closest friends. "Good," she added having confirmed that everyone was there. "Let's begin."

The eight of them were all gathered in Massie's theatre, where her Mac had been hooked up to the big screen. Massie hit the call button on her Skype. It rang twice before the call was picked up and a familiar face appeared on the screen, her wide, devious smile in place.

"Long time no Skype guys. I was starting to think that you had forgotten about my beautiful face and only remembered my devious brain."

"And your SAT words," Skye joked.

Massie crossed her legs, staring at the huge screen. "I know we haven't been in face to face contact since school ended last year, I'm really sorry about that. Life is busy."

"Tell me all your problems. I love a good new girl dilemma."

They took turns filling her in on Claire Lyons and the whole _she knows Layne Abeley_ problem. A thoughtful look crossed her face as she thought. Shouting on the other end of the connection disrupted their moment of silence. She sighed, turning back to face her friends after listening to the argument.

"I gotta go. I'll text you tomorrow with a time when I can talk face to face again."

They all shouted their agreement and gave her their love. The call disconnected. Alicia turned on Massie and Derrick.

"Calling Kristen? A brilliant idea."

* * *

_**REVIEW PLEASE I LOVE REVIEWS!**_


	6. Chapter 6

_psychotic honeybadger of death- _I love you a lot oh my god. As for Claire and Todd, you'll have to keep reading to find out!

_Anonymous- _Originally Layne was actually going to be a lot less creepy but what I'd thought originally didn't really deserve being run out of town the way she was. So creepy stalker Layne was born!

_ana- _There is a note addressing Alicia/Josh this at the bottom of the review replies, I would advise that you read it! Thanks for the review.

_Guest- _Like I just said to _ana_ there is a note addressing the questions I got about Alicia/Josh. Thank you for reviewing!

_Woah- _Kristen is in fact the "master". She'll be explained more in this chapter!

_outside the crayon box- _I guess you'll have to keep reading! Ily, oh my god.

_Ballerinavibes- _Thank you!

_Guest- _On it!

_**Note about Alicia/Josh**__: Given the fact that I received more than one question about Alicia and Josh and their chemistry together I decided I would explain it here. When you read the last chapter about the two of them, you have to remember that this was freshman year. That was two years ago for them now and things have changed. I'm not saying you should rule anything out right now, but I will confirm as of Chapter Six (aka this chapter) there is nothing going on between Alicia and Josh._

* * *

It actually took a week for Kristen to text one of them, informing them to Skype with her after school at Massie's house. Massie sighed happily as Skye relayed this information, twisting the cap off of her Coke Zero and sipping it.

"I miss Kristen. It really hasn't been the same since she moved to Australia."

"She's still managed to help us both times we were scheming," Chris pointed out.

* * *

_One year, eight months ago…_

"_Kristen, we have a matter of the utmost importance!" Josh announced. _

_The blonde girl on the other end of the Skype call perked up with interest. She'd been in Australia for two months, and she clearly missed the drama of Westchester. "What's up?"_

"_Joshy is being stalked," Cam announced, shooting Josh a mocking look. _

_Kristen's eyes narrowed. "Josh is… what?" She asked incredulously. _

_Kristen and Josh had been together for a year until she moved. They had both moved on, but Kristen clearly didn't like the idea of someone stalking him. _

"_There's a girl named Layne Abeley. She and her brother Chris moved to Westchester at the beginning of this year. We've definitely mentioned her, but last week we hit a breaking point." Massie's lips were drawn tight as she explained their predicament. _

"_Layne broke into Josh's house with the help of her brother and we need to get rid of her." Skye summed up._

"_Get rid of her as in leave you alone, get rid of her as in leave Westchester, or get rid of her as in a different state?"_

"_Get rid of her as in a different state," they all chorused. _

_Kristen's eyes gleamed with the prospect of scheming with her friends again. "Tell me something, are the Abeleys rich?"_

_The eight of them exchanged glances with each other, not following her train of thought. "I would say they're rich, yes," Derrick replied. _

"_Rich enough that her parents could buy her way out of…a serious problem?" _

_Kemp leaned forward, eyes lighting up with curiosity. "Kristen, what are you talking about?" _

"_I just think it would be a damn shame if say, her parents couldn't buy her out of jail time for, say, grand theft auto?" Kristen suggested._

* * *

_Present Day…_

"That doesn't change the fact that she's on the complete other side of the world," Cam pointed out. "It's not the same as it was when she was here."

"Okay Cameron, thank you for pissing in everyone's cereal," Derrick replied as he slid into a seat at their table.

"No one's eating cereal."

"It's a metaphor, you idiot."

"I know that but I'm just saying you could have said sandwiches or soup or sushi or even lunches, that would be much more appropriate for the time and the situation at hand."

Everyone stared at Cam silently.

"What?! I'm just saying," he mumbled.

"Now that we've gotten our lesson from Cam for the day," Derrick deadpanned, turning back to the previous conversation, "we're meeting at Block's house after school?"

Massie sighed dramatically, falling back in her seat. "Don't we always meet at my house when shit goes down?" She asked no one in particular.

"It is the most centrally located," Josh pointed out reasonably.

"If the police ever show up at my house because you commit a crime and then come there because it's 'centrally located' I will rip off your balls," Massie informed him sweetly.

"Let's be honest Massie, if anyone's going to meet a crime it's going to be you and D," Kemp replied.

"Irrelevant," Derrick and Massie announced at the same time.

"Losers," Alicia jokingly replied in the same tone.

* * *

"I'm sure you're wondering why I've gathered you all here today," Kristen twirled around in her desk chair to face them, lining up her finger tips and fixing her friends with an evil smirk.

"Well I would assume it's because you have a plan," Chris replied.

Kristen's hands dropped to her lap and she glared at him. "I'm helping you guys without reaping any of rewards from it and yet you still can't let me have just one moment, can you Chris? Just hush, okay?"

"Yeah Chris," Cam mocked.

"Step one of the Kristen's Master and Going to be Successful Plan of Getting Claire Lyons Out of Westchester and New York State –otherwise known as KMAGTBSPOGCLOOWANYS is for one of you to befriend her. That way she'll be blindsided when that same friend kicks off step two." Kristen rattled this all off at lightning speed, leaving the guys a little dazed.

"Well we've already got Alicia on schmooze duty," Skye replied. "What's step two?"

"Step two is what I like to call the Gossip Girl approach," Kristen announced.

Massie, Skye, and Alicia nodded in understanding while the boys all exchanged confused looks. "That's a great idea Kris," Massie said.

"Wait what's the idea?" Derrick asked with a confused look on his face.

"On Gossip Girl, when Jenny Humphrey came back to school the mean girls did small but annoying random acts of 'bullying' that would eventually build up until Jenny couldn't take it anymore. Add that to the omnipresence of someone gossiping about you and I'd say that's a pretty good formula for wanting to get out of here," Kristen explained patiently. "Alicia, you have to make sure she thinks your friends so that when you start this there's no way she sees it coming."

"Done," Alicia replied confidently. "I'll take her out to dinner at SOH tomorrow night, that way you guys can all be there somewhere else and it'll look like I'd rather spend time with her than with you guys. We can start step 2 next week…" she trailed off as she saw everyone staring at her, eyes wide. "What?" She asked self-consciously.

"I'm so proud!" Massie gushed, tackling her friend in a hug.

* * *

"Hey Claire! Wait up!" Alicia called as she speed-walked through the halls of Briarwood to catch up with the blonde ahead of her.

Claire slowed, shooting Alicia a friendly, albeit wary, smile. "Hey, what's up?" She asked as they fell into step with each other.

Alicia shrugged. "I see you've been hanging out with Olivia Ryan and her uh, unique group of friends."

"They've been nice, a little weird, but nice," Claire replied, adjusting her books.

"I can offer you plans for tonight that won't be weird," Alicia suggested.

Claire met her eyes for the first time in their conversation, looking interested. "What plans?"

"How would you like to get a pizza with me tonight? I haven't seen you at Slice of Heaven yet, have you been?" At Claire's head shake she continued. "Well, if you're free tonight, I'll pick you up at seven and we can go there for dinner or something? I can, like, show you the best pizzas and shit. For future reference." She sent Claire a hopeful look.

"Sure, that sounds great Leesh."

Alicia shot her a sweet smile. "Great! See you tonight!" She sauntered off.

Massie appeared once Claire was around the corner, although she hadn't been anywhere nearby. Alicia often found herself wondering how the brunette could just _show up_ from somewhere random, and with perfect timing.

"How'd it go?" Massie asked without preamble, sending a text at the same time.

"I'm picking her up at seven," Alicia replied mockingly.

Massie's phone lit up with at text. "Oh, I gotta go, I'm meeting Derrick after school and he's waiting. Have fun on your date," she teased her friend, spinning in her heels to head in the opposite direction.

"You too!" Alicia called after her.

"_Not a date!_" Massie shouted back without looking back, turning more than one curious head.

* * *

Alicia pulled up to Claire's house, driving her own car for once, and honked once before texting Claire to let her know she was there. It took less than a minute for Claire to emerge from the modest house her family owned and slide into the passenger side.

"Hey Claire! Cute shoes," Alicia greeted brightly. "Buckle up, I like to drive fast."

"Won't you get pulled over for speeding?"

"Doubtful," Alicia murmured, so low that Claire didn't hear. "Ready for some pizza?" She added more loudly.

"I'm always ready for pizza!" Claire chirped.

"Cool, find a station you like," Alicia motioned to the radio as she pulled away from the curb.

* * *

"Block."

Massie looked up, startled. "Hmmm?" She asked absentmindedly.

"Are you ready to go?" Derrick asked patiently.

Massie rose from Derrick's couch. "When am I not ready?"

"Any time before eight in the morning," he teased as he herded her out to his car. "Everyone else will be there already."

* * *

They were, in fact, the last ones to arrive at Slice of Heaven. Of course, the boys never missed an opportunity to joke about them having been on a "hot date". Cam was oddly quiet though, and Massie made a mental note to ask him what was going on later. Skye just blinked at her sympathetically while the boys went on loudly. Massie finally rolled her eyes and cut in.

"You caught us; Derrick and I were getting married." To rub it in a little bit further, she forcefully kissed him in front of the entire restaurant.

She knew her friend's mouths would be wide open and silently apologized to Alicia for having to miss the show she was putting on; she knew Alicia would have to act disinterested. As she moved to pull away from Derrick, he followed her lips a little bit to prolong their kiss before pulling away and straightening up.

"Are you happy now, you vultures?" Derrick asked.

"Thrilled," Kemp was grinning broadly. "Now I just have to hope that'll be Alicia and I sometime soon."

"Tell her that instead of us," Josh suggested.

* * *

Alicia knew that Massie was up to something the moment she turned to face Derrick. She immediately turned away, pretending to be uninterested as they put on a show. Claire, who was sitting across from her in the booth, was staring at them.

"Oh my god, Alicia, are Massie and Derrick together?" She asked surprised.

Alicia shrugged. "Who knows what Massie and Derrick are."

"Does that mean she's not with Cam? And you're not with Cam right?"

"No, no one is with Cam," Alicia told her, amused.

"Do you think he'd be interested in me?"

"I don't know Claire, I guess you'll have to ask him yourself," Alicia replied nonchalantly as she swirled a fry in the garlic dip that sat in front of her. "We could go over if you want to talk to him."

Claire immediately patted her hair. "I dunno, how do I look?"

"Great," Alicia replied, smiling and lying through her teeth. "I'm pretty sure blondes are Cam's type."

She paused for a long moment, eyeing Claire up and down thoughtfully. Claire waited for her to speak again, sensing there was something she was going to add.

"Although, maybe it would be better to talk to him a like, next week, they're not thrilled that I ditched them to hang out with you."

Claire immediately frowned, worried. Alicia waved a hand.

"I'll clear it up with them over the weekend, and then you can talk to Cam next week at school?"

"Will you talk to him with me?"

Alicia smiled brightly at her. "Claire, I would _love_ to be there when you talk to him."

* * *

"I don't know Layne; they've all been really nice as far as I'm concerned. Maybe they've changed, or maybe you're remembering them worse than they really are?" Claire suggested her phone on speakerphone as she changed into her pajamas.

"Claire, how does one remember them accusing you of grand theft auto incorrectly?" Layne snapped back. "They're going to turn on you."

"Really because Alicia took me out to dinner tonight," Claire turned defensive. "Maybe they just like me and they didn't like you."

"Do whatever the fuck you want Claire, don't come crying to me when it blows up in your fucking face." Layne hung up, too pissed off to continue.

* * *

"So then I told her that I thought blondes were Cam's type," Alicia snickered as she filled her friends in on her evening with Claire.

"Great, it looks like you set me up perfectly." Cam sounded mildly annoyed as he eyed Alicia.

"Cam's first high school girlfriend!" Kemp trilled, looking pleased.

"Do let her down easy, won't you Cam?" Chris simpered, looking even more pleased than the others.

"I plan to," Cam replied, meeting the blonde boy's eyes.

* * *

_This took forever to write, and it's shorter than most of my chapters, but I was just really struggling with it. I finally hit my groove but I don't want to start a whole new section or whatever of the story in the same chapter. Review please!_


	7. Chapter 7

_Guest- _I'm not sure about d_estroying_ Claire, but shit's gonna go down!

_toolazytologin- _Thank you! To be honest I wasn't sure if Kristen would fit into this story, but then I came up with the plan during the first or second chapter and I was like "this is it; this is where Kristen fits in!" Dylan will be making an appearance, but that's all I'm going to say about that!

_Anonymous- _Cam is actually based off one of my friends. He's weird too, he can be really nice or really sarcastic and a total boy, so I decided hey, let's throws that into one of the characters. As for Massie, Derrick, and Cam's love life: keep reading!

_psychotic honeybadger of death- _First of all, I love your reviews because they're always too long for the email I get about them so I have to actually open up the website and that makes me really happy because wow feedback and stuff. Since my story is only rated T you're most likely going to be disappointed on the wild sex thing. Sorry, I wish I could do something about that, but you know that's life. I'll consider what my options are for face-licking and get back to you though. All I'll tell you –this could probably be considered favouritism but since anyone could read this it's not really –Cam definitely has some vibes for someone. (If they don't read this, they'll find out this chapter anyways, but you get a little heads up.) Kristen could definitely teach classes on getting shit done, but I wouldn't call her an assassin. I see her more pulling off heists than murdering people. Layne already went through all that she needs to. That could be an entire other story haha. What kind of story would it be if something didn't happen to Claire? Not one of my stories that's for sure. I'M SO GLAD THAT I CHANGED YOUR OPINION ABOUT CLAM FOR THIS STORY THAT WAS MY GOAL, LIKE I WANT PEOPLE TO NOT WANT CAM/CLAIRE TO HAPPEN. Unfortunately there will be no werewolves in this story; I'm sorry I have to disappoint. I'm glad you like the pictures! Sorry this was so long.

_outside the crayon box- _Here's your update!

_Guest- _I'm glad you liked the bit with Layne, it was fun to write; even though it was short. Your Cam question will be answered in this chapter, I'm sure. Enjoy!

_Prettyprincess45-_I'm glad you like it! And hey, you're reviewing now, so no worries!

* * *

"So, Cammie boy, what was up with you at Slice of Heaven?" Derrick asked. "And afterwards, that weird thing with Chris, what's going on?"

"I wasn't weird at either place," Cam replied.

"Well that's utter bullshit; you're normally the first to make fun of Block and me, what was with the creepy silence?"

"I know that you really like her Derrick," Cam looked up and met his eye. "I don't see the point in teasing you about being in love with someone, especially in front of said person, if she doesn't know. Frankly, you'd think she would have figured it out by now, but I digress."

"I'm not in love with Block."

"Who said Massie, all I said was 'her'. If you immediately assume it's Mass, there's something there whether you admit it or not."

Derrick froze, allowing Cam to steal the soccer ball away from them as they half-heartedly played in Derrick's backyard. The blonde boy shook his head back and forth rapidly.

"Nope, we're just best friends."

"Best friends don't make out with each other in public," Cam challenged. "At least that's what the entire school will think tomorrow. Best friends don't get possessive over nicknames. But whatever you say bro, it's up to you to figure this out for yourself."

He was clearly giving Derrick an out of the conversation and Derrick gladly took it. "So what's up with you and Chris?"

"We're dating," Cam replied nonchalantly.

Derrick stopped him from moving past him with the ball with a hand to his shoulder. "No shit?"

Cam looked him straight in the eye. "No shit. Since summer started."

Derrick's face broke out into a grin. "Congratulations! Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"Derrick, when I told you I was gay we were both shitfaced and sitting on a slide together at the park in eighth grade. I didn't think it was right to spring it on you when we trying to figure out everything."

Derrick shrugged. "You haven't told anyone else you're gay have you?"

"No."

"Not even Leesh and Block?"

"No. I told Chris he could tell them first. When it gets out I want _everyone _to know at once. I'm not worried what anyone else is going to think; we're just waiting for the perfect moment."

Derrick shouldered him. "Good for you man, glad you're happy. You'll need something to cheer you up after I beat you to the ground in this game."

It was on after that, an intense one on one match.

* * *

"So what was up with that weird thing between Cam and Chris Friday night?" Skye wondered as she, Alicia, and Massie headed over to where the boys were waiting Monday morning.

Massie and Alicia both shrugged. "Normally Cam tells us when something's up but he's been strangely MIA since school ended last year. We'll get the story eventually," Massie replied.

"Anyways, it's time to start step two of KMAGTBSPOGCLOOWANYS," Alicia announced as they joined the guys.

"I honestly have heard that over a hundred times over the weekend and I still don't understand how you three can pronounce it so well," Kemp crossed his arms petulantly.

Alicia patted his head comfortingly. "It's a girl thing Kemp baby, you wouldn't understand."

She winked at Massie as Kemp went a little pink in the cheeks. Massie hid a grin and turned back to her friends. Placing her hands on her hip she fixed them all with a stern look.

"Here is the plan guys: make her uncomfortable. Don't go overboard just yet, this is only Day One. Make her think everyone is talking about her behind her back, that she's constantly being watched by anyone for a mistake. That will make her want to be perfect, which will eventually lead to her slipping up, and us winning."

"My woman, the evil genius," Derrick said admiringly.

"Not your woman D," Massie replied, although it seemed more out of habit than anything.

Everyone else shot each other looks that the two of them seemed to miss. Josh cleared his throat and everyone's heads turned to look at him.

"Is today the today Claire's going to talk to Cam?" He asked innocently. "Because I for one would like to be there to witness it."

"I'll bring her over at lunch. That way she won't have already gotten too scared to back down from it," Alicia suggested.

"Sounds good to me," Chris muttered, shooting a look at Cam.

"Onto other news! There's a game after school today right?" Skye asked, stealing the muffin out of Josh's hand.

"Hey that's mine!"

"Yeah there is," Derrick told her. "You had all better show up."

"I don't know, we might have better things to do," Kemp and Alicia said at the same time.

Alicia rounded on him with a raised eyebrow. "Kemp, you play soccer, how would you have something better to do?"

"I don't, I just knew you were going to say it and I wanted to see what it would be like to be constantly rejecting us guys," Kemp replied.

They stared at each other for a long moment, everyone else was silent. Alicia shrugged.

"You're not wrong, but hey, I reject myself sometimes too, to keep it interesting," she joked.

The weird tension was broken and everyone laughed.

* * *

Lunch time was eagerly looked forward to that day. They were all seated at their table within ten minutes. Massie and her friends may or may not have bullied some people into letting them cut the line, but it was going to be worth it: they couldn't miss the Claire and Cam show.

They chattered with each other about what was going to happen. Chris and Cam were keeping their conversation quiet, but everyone else was too excited to notice. Derrick shot them a knowing glance, but then turned back to his conversation with Skye.

Across the room Alicia was seated with Claire. The blonde girl had blown off her "usual" plans with Olivia Ryan to sit with Alicia at lunch. They had found a table in the corner where Alicia could secretly keep her friends in her peripheral vision while she chatted with Claire.

"So, I think you should talk to Cam today," she told her casually, plucking one of the croutons off her salad and popping it into her mouth, careful not to smudge her lipstick.

"Really?" Claire asked nervously, hands going to smooth her hair again.

It was the second time she'd done this when Alicia had mentioned something that made her nervous. The Spanish girl took a note of this for potential future use.

"Yeah, now or never right?" She replied, meeting Claire's eyes with a cajoling look. "Otherwise you'll just be nervous until it happens."

"You're right," Claire seemed convinced. "Will you come with me?"

"Of course Claire, I wouldn't miss this," Alicia replied sweetly.

She pushed back her chair loudly and stood, alerting her friends to what was coming. All seven of them immediately fully immersed themselves in something, paying no attention to anyone else in the room. They were ready for her to go over. Claire hesitantly stood. As they walked towards Alicia's usual table, her confidence grew until she seemed practically cocky about it. Alicia had been talking her up, they were _friends_. Massie had saved a seat for Alicia beside her, and Claire barely noticed when Alicia slid into it, not realizing that Alicia must have been planning to end up here after all.

"Hey Cam," Claire trilled, smiling brightly.

"Uh, hey Claire," Cam replied, looking confused.

"I wanted to ask you something, could we talk alone?" Clearly Claire thought she didn't need Alicia's help anymore.

Alicia and Derrick shared a smirk before turning back to the unfolding scene in front of them.

"Anything you say to Cam will immediately get back to us, so you may as well just say it here," Skye told Claire coolly.

"That's true," Josh added matter of factly. "Group policy, dontcha know."

"Um, okay," Claire looked to Alicia for help, obviously thrown.

Alicia waved one hand carelessly and raised an eyebrow at Claire, silently daring her to follow through. Claire turned back to Cam.

"I was wondering if we could go out some time."

"Like hang out?" Cam asked innocently.

"No, like a date."

Massie and Kemp had twisted around in their seats, subtly shutting up the entire room. They knew Cam would want everyone to hear what came next. They themselves didn't even know what was coming, but they knew from the look Cam had shot at them earlier that this was what he wanted.

"Claire, sorry to disappoint, but I'm gay."

A loud gasped echoed around the room and Claire's head shot up to find everyone's eyes on them. She turned beet red and speed walked away, without looking back.

Meanwhile the group that remained at the table was frantically trying to play it cool and act like Cam's loud announcement wasn't a total shock. Derrick stood up and fixed the majority of the room with a fierce glare.

"You can stop trying to eavesdrop now,_ goodbye_."

The Briarwood students slowly went back to what they were doing. When the room was loud again, Derrick dropped back into his seat.

"What the _fuck_ Cam? Did you not tell anyone?" Massie demanded in a low tone, her face neutral.

"Actually, I knew," Derrick commented, taking a huge bite out of his burger.

"So did I," Chris smirked.

Derrick snorted. "I would hope so."

"Yeah me too," Cam rolled his eyes.

"Wait, why?" Josh asked, clearly confused.

"They're obviously dating, idiot," Skye smacked Josh on the head. "Put two and two together why don't you."

Josh rubbed the back of his head and scowled. "Skye that is not the way to get me to take you out on a date, violence is never the answer."

"That's not what you said last night," Skye smirked.

"WHAT?" Everyone else hissed together.

Skye shifted in her seat uncomfortably. "Josh and I may have developed a sort of relationship or something like that," she mumbled.

"What is a _sort of_ relationship?" Alicia demanded.

"A sort of relationship as in Skye will sleep with me but she won't let me take her out on dates," Josh replied bluntly, shooting Skye a pointed look.

The blonde was staring at her soup resolutely and didn't notice.

"Because it's not like this was pertinent information or anything fucking like that was it guys," Massie snapped.

"Hey, that's like me and Block," Derrick replied at the same time.

"Derrick we have never slept together."

"We almost did that one time."

"That's not even close to true, you would know if I was trying to sleep with you."

Massie and Derrick started bickering about whether or not they had "almost" slept together. Cam cleared his throat pointedly.

"The point is that you know that Chris and I are dating, and you know that Skye and Josh are whatever-ing, so it doesn't matter who else finds out, right?"

"Hang on a second," Kemp interrupted. "I don't think we should let everyone else find out."

"Why?" They all asked together.

"Well if Claire knows Layne then clearly she's not going to give up without a fight. Wouldn't it be better to let her think that we're keeping secrets from each other when we aren't actually? It would delay her potentially finding out any real damaging stuff, should there be any," Kemp explained.

"Kemp, you're a genius," Alicia breathed, eyes wide.

* * *

"Alicia! How could you do this to me!" Claire snapped. She had cornered Alicia by her locker at the end of the day.

Alicia twirled a strand of hair around her finger and blinked slowly at Claire. "I'm sorry, what did I do?" She asked, seeming bored.

"You ruined what little reputation I have at this school by making me get humiliated by Cam!" Claire hissed.

"Okay, _numero uno_," Alicia held up one finger, "you're going to do even more damage to your reputation if you keep yelling at me in a public place like this, so have some self-control why don't you? Second, you did all of that by yourself. I suggested you talk to Cam, I didn't force you to talk to him and I didn't tell the rest of the school to listen in. Maybe if you hadn't been so quick to trust one of _us_ in your desperate attempt to make friends, you wouldn't have put yourself into that situation. That's right Kuh-Laire _you did this to yourself_." She shut her locker, swinging her purse over her shoulder and sauntered off, without once looking back at the girl that she had pretended to be friends with.

Claire leaned back against the wall, staring after Alicia. Layne had been right when she said that Claire couldn't trust them. Heels clacked down the hallway, growing louder as someone walked towards Claire. She looked up, fully expecting it to be Massie or Skye coming to rub in their victory. It was a redhead that Claire vaguely knew was named Dylan.

She was surprised when Dylan came to a stop in front of her. She was even more surprised when a few moments later Olivia joined her until the three of them formed a triangle in the mostly empty hallway.

"Here to rub in my embarrassment?" Claire muttered bitterly.

Olivia's navy eyes narrowed in to a glare and she shot a look at Dylan. Both girls grabbed one of Claire's arms and dragged her down the mostly empty hallway. The remainder of the students, mostly potheads, barely batted an eyelash as Claire struggled briefly before giving up and allowing herself to be manhandled.

She was bundled into the back of a Jeep. Dylan slid into the driver's seat and the wheels screeched as it pulled out of the parking lot. They turned in the opposite direction from where the majority of Westchester's elite lived and seemed to be heading out of White Plains.

"Are you kidnapping me?" Claire demanded, highly concerned. "My parents aren't rich; they can't pay a ransom for me."

Olivia snorted. "If we were going to kidnap you why would we let you keep your shit and let you see where you're going? Don't be stupid."

It only took ten minutes for them to pull up to a huge A-frame house that looked a lot like a church. Dylan parked in the garage; it was clearly her house.

"What am I doing here?"

They both ignored her and herded her inside. Claire planted her feet in the doorway to the kitchen and refused to move.

"What the hell is going on?" She demanded.

"What the fuck were you thinking, getting into it with _Massie Block and Derrick Harrington_?" Dylan demanded. "Are you actually retarded? Like that is a serious question, is there something different going on in your head?"

"That's very offensive," Claire snapped. "My friend's brother is autistic."

"Fine, then I won't say you're retarded, I'll say you're the single most idiotic fucking person that I have ever had the displeasure of meeting," Dylan snapped back in the same tone. "You're seriously lacking in IQ if you think that you can just swing in and mess around with _that_ group."

Claire wilted, leaning against the wall, having stepped into the kitchen fully. "I didn't think I was messing around with them, I thought Alicia was my friend."

Olivia looked like she wanted to rip out her own hair. "How could you ever possibly think that any of them would leave their own happy little family to spend time with _you_, the new girl?"

Claire glared at her. "You pretended to be my friend too!" She accused, pointing a finger at her. "Why did you bring me here, just to yell at me for being a dumbass? Got it, can I leave now?"

"That's not why we brought you here," Dylan said, seemingly calmer.

"Then why am I here?" Claire demanded.

"Layne asked us to help you on your suicide mission. Call us the bomb squad," Olivia replied sarcastically. "Just to be clear, we're doing this for her, not you."

"Layne didn't tell me about this."

"We were supposed to stay in the shadows, but as you've already fucked up, we can't do that anymore. We had to fill you in on what's going to happen next."

* * *

_Two years ago…_

"_Hey, are you new here?" Olivia asked cheerfully as she faced the obviously new girl. "I'm Olivia Ryan, I'm supposed to show you around the school and make sure you don't end up in the dark room instead of the nurse's office and shit like that. Dylan, this is Dylan," she motioned to the redhead beside her, "offered to come along and keep us company."_

"_Sounds good to me," Layne chirped back. Maybe these girls could introduce her to the hot boy she'd seen outside._

* * *

_Layne hugged Dylan and Olivia as they stood just outside of the line for security. Her backpack was on the ground beside her and there were genuine tears pricking in her eyes as she stepped away from the group hug._

"_I'm going to miss you guys. This isn't the end though; I know that this isn't the end. Somehow I'm going to get back at them for the shit they pulled."_

_She didn't know how she'd managed to keep her… interest… in Josh Hotz a secret from the girls she'd befriended, but they had no idea why _they_ had set her up. They thought that Massie Block and her gang of friends were just that cruel. Layne was banking on that for her revenge._

* * *

_Present day…_

"So here's what's going to have happened on the Massie, Alicia and the gang side of things," Olivia began. "If they haven't already, they're gonna be calling Kristen. She's the mastermind behind their big schemes. Trust me Claire; they'll already have a plan for you. They probably already do. The first thing you need to know is that Alicia went into this planning to set you up with Cam. You cannot be blindsided by them again."

Claire nodded, pushing herself off the wall to stand up straight. "What's our plan?"


	8. Chapter 8

_Guest- _Thank you so much!

_eisenburg- _I'M SO GLAD YOU LIKE IT!

_xoxoHoran- _I'm glad you like it! Dylan and Olivia are helping Claire because they're still friends with Layne, and they're doing it as a favour to her.

_Prettyprincess45- _Thank you!

_Anonymous- _I'm so glad you like it, and I'm glad that you (and everyone) is okay with me mixing things up haha. And yeah, Layne's not a nice girl, is she?

_Guest (2)- _To find out about the Claire/Olivia/Dylan team, and the plan to get rid of Claire, you'll have to keep reading! I'm glad that you like the pairings; I know it's not realistic that they all end up with each other, but they don't trust anyone else, so they all end up together anyways hahaha.

_psychotic honeybadger of death-_ I was basically waiting for your review and I thought you weren't going to and I got really disappointed. So I'm happy now! CAM IS MY FAVOURITE PERSON I COULD WRITE AN ENTIRE SIDE STORY ABOUT CAM AND CHRIS. Unfortunately, due to the emphasis being on Claire getting booted, all the relationships are side plot. Kristen would totally leave like a fake business card behind too, just to fuck with everyone she robbed. What they did to Layne is pretty bad, but I'd say she deserved it after the whole stalking fiasco. All the details will eventually be revealed. I can't promise that you'll get the full Cam/Chris story, but maybe _**IF PEOPLE READ THIS AND LET ME KNOW IF THEY WANT IT, JUST MAYBE, I'LLWRITE A ONE SHOT OR SOMETHING ABOUT THEM. **_If Cam wasn't my fave, it would be Derrick, no contest. SINCE YOU LIKE MASSIE AND DERRICK, YOU'RE GOING TO LIKE THIS CHAPTER *WINK WINK*. Kemp and Alicia are gonna eventually do the relationship thing, for sure. Olivia is my spirit animal, she's gonna have a deeper personality than she normally does in stories. As I type this, it is currently 12:57 AM (sleep is for the weak –More like sleep for a week am I right ladies) so I don't blame you for not making it longer, it's plenty long! I don't start school until the second hallelujah. Ily Sarah!

_Guest- _Here's the update!

_aunicornindisguise- _I'm so happy that you like it! I'm really trying to make it different from most stories, so I'm glad that you think it's working.

* * *

The next day at school, Claire was blocked by Skye and Josh in the hallway. She tried to move around them, arms full of books, but Josh sidestepped and blocked her.

"Where're you going so fast?" He asked in a friendly tone.

Skye didn't even pretend, her blue eyes dark as she glared silently at the other blonde. "Yeah Kuh-Laire, why the rush?"

Claire shrugged. Apparently, part of Olivia and Dylan's master plan was for Claire to lie low and pretend she was still embarrassed. It was getting increasingly hard and the day was only a quarter of the way through.

"Well, don't let us keep you," Josh shrugged once and went to move past her.

"Yeah," Skye smacked down on Claire's books hard, they went flying out of her arms, sliding down the hall. "I'd hate for us to make you late." She snickered and she and Josh pushed past her, heading to class.

An impromptu game of "kick the books" was started up as Alicia realized whose they were and kicked them to Derrick, who passed them off down the hallway to Griffin Hastings, who passed them off to another girl. Claire groaned and chased after her swiftly moving books. She wanted more than anything to confront Skye about it but that wasn't in the damn _plan_. She didn't even like Olivia. She pretended to be so ditsy in public but she was actually just as conniving as anyone else in Westchester. She had called Layne immediately after being released from Dylan's house to complain, but Layne wouldn't hear of it. Claire had to do this, to get revenge for Layne.

The plan was for Claire to act like they had completely scared her into not getting back at them. Then, with the help of Todd's spy gear, Olivia, Dylan, and Claire would spy on them all at some point and find out their secrets. Then they would break the group apart with the strategic revealing of secrets.

* * *

"She's definitely watching us," Massie informed Alicia and Skye as they sat watching the boys' soccer game after school.

It was true. Clare was sat with Olivia and Dylan, and all three of them were constantly looking at them out of the corner of their eye. Skye rolled her eyes at their attempts to be subtle.

Massie slapped both of her friends hard on the thighs a moment later.

"WE FORGOT TO SKYPE KRISTEN SO SHE COULD SEE!"

"Mass, it's 7 am in Sydney right now," Alicia replied. "She's not going to be awake."

Massie rolled her eyes. "That's weak, just because she's doing online school doesn't mean she shouldn't have to wake up early like the rest of us."

"Actually, I think that's the point of online school," Skye joked, rubbing her thigh gingerly.

"Wait! That guy from Greyson just got past Kemp!" Alicia shrieked, and the girls instantly refocused on the game, silently chanting for Derrick to save it.

He did of course; the Tomahawks had been undefeated for the past two years. The three girls relaxed back in the bleachers, relieved. Claire, Olivia, and Dylan had been focused on the game but returned to "subtly" spying on the girls.

**Massie Block [5:05 pm]: **can I help you ladies with something? Because if not stop watching us. Enjoy the game; you actually have social lives for once.

Alicia and Skye snickered as they read over her shoulder. Massie sent the text to Dylan and when the three girls looked over at them, looking caught, they received snide, mocking smirks in return.

* * *

"They know we were watching them, so what do we do now?" Claire demanded as she was hustled between Dylan and Olivia into Dylan's waiting car after the soccer game.

"They're going out to celebrate; we're going to plot our first attack," Olivia replied, sliding into shotgun and forcing Claire to climb into the backseat.

Claire wasn't fooling herself, Dylan and Olivia weren't interested in her friendship, they were only helping her for Layne.

She pulled out her phone and immersed herself, blocking out Dylan and Olivia's conversation about people and gossip she didn't recognize as it started up. The two of them could be compared to Massie and her friends if you watched them closely enough. Dylan and Olivia were in sync with each other, they finished each other's sentences and complimented each other's personalities.

Layne was Claire's other half in that sense, and she was on the other end of the country. Shit, did Claire ever miss her sometimes.

"Uh, Kuh-Laire, are you even listening?" Olivia snapped from the front seat. "We're going over the plan here."

"Sorry," she muttered half-heartedly.

"Anyways," Dylan's tone was pointed as she continued. "Olivia is going to worm her way in with Skye. She doesn't have a very best friend since Kristen left, and Olivia is her partner for a project. She's going to find out a secret of theirs and we're going to use it against them. Any questions?"

"What do I do?" Claire asked.

"Stay out of my way." Olivia turned back around in her seat.

* * *

_WOW I AM SO SORRY THIS IS SO SHORT AND BAD PUT PLEASE REVIEW ANYWAYS I'VE HAD A ROUGH FEW WEEKS. _


End file.
